2012 Collective Custom Content + Halloween Event Feedback

[goldmind]

Faction War - Fight for Prontera
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     Faction War was the first step to bringing custom content that many players have been asking for. From beginning of its release until now, Faction War has made the most impact on aRO. And now that we have our first piece of custom content, I think the most important questions that should be asked is ... is it fun? Or is it appealing to players? Is it worth your time playing?

     So, is it fun? In my opinion, I would have to say no, and there are a few reasons why.

     Faction War promises one thing:

     "It's goal is to create a vastly improved PVP environment that is not based on either parties or guilds."

     This custom content has a few hits and a lot of misses. When Faction War got released, it was really cool and interesting. However, as time went on, this PvP-oriented event was soon to be labeled as a "clusterf*ck". Players who played it found some gameplay problems here and there. It was challenging to play, but it wasn't fun. In recent development however, the gameplay has undergone big changes for improved and fair battles. With that said, I think it still feels like regular Battlegrounds except it has some Pax/Rek bots and a bigger playing field. And, it hasn't introduced a whole new way of playing and interacting with enemies and allies. In current times, the Paxs and Reks still gang each other with no real involvement with their AI bots from the same team.


     As far as RO goes, this custom content does not provide a good impression of a large-scale war as the name implies. A bigger map, yes, however that's about the only impression I've been given after playing Faction War myself. If it is suppose to imitate a war in some aspect, then it still has a long way to go. There aren't any squads, battalions, or a real army here. No trenches or hiding cover for tactical retreat, no ground traps or grenade mines, no mechanical weaponry support, no air assault support, and no environmental or atmospheric hazards. It can be done using just monsters and skills. These kinds of thematic or aesthetic features can help make Faction War interactive, engaging, and thus, more appealing and more fun in general. If these things gets added, it would be a real improvement and Faction War can still be PvP-based as originally intended.

     I'd like to comment on the Pax and Rek soldiers themselves next.


*credit to solarkactus*


     What we have here are: long-range, offensive magic, medical support, tank, and heavy offensive type classes. These are 5 very varied, staple classes that make up a very small, generic army. In my opinion, a small army isn't an army at all. I think what could have been done were to use these varied classes very sparingly. Don't bunch up these classes together every time Faction War starts. Spawn them as if they were "special units". One thing I felt was done well was putting the 4x Stalkers behind the barricades for the defending side. This alone already acts as a "squad".

     Also, it would be nice if there were more sub-types. In a typical war game (or chess) there are pawns or vanguards, knights, captains, air assault soldiers, soldiers that operate cannons, etc etc ... those kinds of sub-types are what I'm talking about.

     Some sub-type class that could be added are the very, very basic "troopers" (Gunslinger). Gunslingers can use up to five different weapons, so you can see how this can easily make up a squad on its own. There can also be "stealth force elites" (Assassin Cross), and maybe even "cannon operators" (Biochemist).

     The Pax/Rek Troopers (Gunslinger) could be the first waves in the Faction Wars. Make 5 different Trooper squads with each squad consisting of Gunslingers using a specific weapon. Squad #1 can have 3-4 Gatling Gun users. Squad #2 can have 3-4 Rifle users. Squad #3 can have 3-4 Grenade launcher users. Etc etc.

     The Stealth Force Elites (Assassin Cross) could be a "specialized unit". Each stealth squad could perhaps have 2-3 stealth force elites. Deploy them for flanking purposes and slowly destroy the enemies' army one by one ... exactly what an Assassin Cross should be doing.

     The cannon operators (Biochemist) could be also be a "specialized unit". They're known for launching devastating bombs, so use that for thematic purposes (in terms of war). These specialized units can also be dynamic. For example, in a Pax/Rek army they would have 10 different squads. Each squad has a 10% chance to add in a "cannon operator". This way each squad will at least be slightly different even if unnoticeable in the middle of the battle.

     One final thing I want to comment about are the usage of Paladins and Lord Knights. Currently, they are used as "leaders" to reflect some aspect on war itself, but it isn't really used effectively in Faction War. If used correctly, the same idea behind the "trooper Gunslinger" suggestion I gave can apply to Pally and LK. They can serve as a squad all on their own. They could be propped as the "main force" in the army. Currently, the "main force" for a Pax and Rek army are just repeat-spawns of Stalker, HWiz, HP, Pally and LK. There isn't anything new or dynamic in this perpetual attacking/defending standoff.


     In Faction War, the amount of damage a regular Pax/Rek bot dishes out is somewhat frightening, in my opinion. I have decent gears and decent weapons, but I can never take down any enemies by myself. This is suppose to be a war where a Pax/Rek soldier can die within reasonable limits ... or at least, that is what I'm lead to believe. Why then does it feel like I am fighting regular human soldiers with MVP-like stats and MVP-like health points? This kind of difficulty ... this kind of challenge makes playing Faction Wars unpleasant for me. It isn't fun. I do not feel like I am playing an important role as a Pax Imperia soldier. It isn't just me. Imagine how lesser geared players feel if they joined Faction War and all they see are huge damage numbers. It would discourage them to participate in regular PvP furthermore because they cannot survive long enough to do anything. PvP (or Faction War for this matter) should not and does not equal to the entire aRO population. If one of the objectives is to make it appealing and fun for all sizes of players, then it should not cater to super-geared PvPers. I want to play Faction War as an equal, but if all of the Pax/Rek AI bots dish out insane damage, then I might as well let the Pax/Rek AI bots do the winning and losing by themselves. Or, I can stop playing Faction War altogether since PvP standards are not accessible to me.


     It's great that there is pathfinding for the Pax/Rek bots. It would be nice if the AI gets improved overall, though. There are moments when the defending Rangers who are behind barricades aren't doing anything at all. Their targets are too far away and because they can't move beyond their barricades they become idle. I don't expect the AI to be "smart"; I'm just pointing out one example of their idling is all.

     Flanking. When flanking got implemented it was a really neat addition. So far, I don't see anything wrong with Pax bots and Rek bots doing the flanking, but the problem is is that players do not flank with them. Basically, everyone just runs straight and center when it's their time to assault in Faction War. Perhaps add an additional layer of barricades for the the center on the defending faction. This way, players have a choice to flank and deal with 1 layer of barricades or go straight and deal with 3 layers of barricades. Also, make the assaulting faction do dynamic flanking. Instead of the assaulting faction flanking every single time when Faction War starts, script the coding so that Left & Right Assault Flanking factions have 25% to flank. If they do not flank, they will regroup and unify with the Center Squad to form a more larger assault faction army.


     In a nutshell, "Faction War - Fight For Prontera" was a good concept on paper. However, the things it promised did not live up to its expectations. A vastly improved PvP environment was not met in my opinion and due to this, I cannot play Faction War as-is. Other players who still play Faction War still get a good kick out of it. Asura'ers and AD'ers still get a good kick out of one-shotting their enemies. However, for people who feel similarly to myself will most likely ignore the Faction War assault announcements. New players and bored people will most likely spectate Pax and Rek bots fighting against each other. Beyond that, Faction War succeeds in giving PvPers something new to do.





Daily Quest
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     Daily Quests are one of the big things that players (myself included) have been asking for for a long time. Just something to do everyday when PvM, questing or making zenny isn't the fun thing to do at the very moment. And when aRO finally delivers Daily Quest, does it deliver the full package? Or is it bare-bones?

     Now, I'm an enthusiast for new things so when I played Daily Quest upon release it was really fun. It delivers that "just something to do everyday" experience. However, after I've played it numerous times I start to realize that it gets more and more boring each time I quest. Eventually, I felt like it was a chore due to a genuine lack in variety. Obtain quest > kill 25 monsters > come back for 1x Daily Token > exchange at the Vending Machine. Rinse and repeat. There is a Daily Quest Overhaul thread in which its purpose is to revise/revamp the entire thing, so hopefully it gets all sorted out very soon.

     It seems like this custom content will see massive improvement and changes in the future. However, as-is, there isn't much else I can say that hasn't been said in other Daily Quest-related threads. Personally, I have stopped playing Daily Quest due to its dull repetitiveness nature.





Automated Events - Drago & Draco

     Automated Events are one of the other big things players have been talking about. Something that happens on aRO every once in a while so that players can choose to join in and have fun. The concept works ideally and when automated events meets anesisRO, the end result works out just as expected. There is a decent amount in variety - six unique challenges to be exact. Most of them are fun, but a few could use improvements.

Warp Roulette.
     This mini-game is very fun! Be the first to step into all 5 warp portals correctly and win a prize. Simple and very easy to get into. Competitiveness is what drives the fun factor upwards in this mini-game. On the flip side however, when there is no actual competition it becomes as fun as winning a competition against only yourself. I suggest to find a way to ensure there is at least some level of competitiveness when this mini-game activates - this is especially true considering the low population count now a days. Make it so that there is always someone else to compete against. Also, I highly suggest that the warp maps are monster-infested maps ... not city maps. It can help add to the sense of urgency in choosing a warp portal before the monsters kills you. It can make it exciting basically. Either way, players should always be carrying a few Butterfly Wings to warp back to their home save point so don't fret over players getting lost in the middle of no where.

Scavenger Hunt.
     I have to be honest and say this is not a fun mini-game at all. I see Drago announce this mini-game a small number of times and out of all of its announcements MAYBE only 1 or 2 people actually handed in the items. This mini-game is a fetch item quest and nothing more. It's a chore. I do not have any suggestions for improvements on this particular mini-game. I can only suggest to remove it entirely.

Monster Invasion. Odd Monster Out. Bounty Hunts.
     These three mini-games are very fun to play. Very simple games are often the most easiest ways to attract attention. The same formula seen in Warp Roulette is also present in Monster Invasion, Odd Monster Out, and Bounty Hunts which is competitiveness. These ones are especially easy to get into because the amount of effort required is very little. Search and destroy, really. I think it's fine the way they are. It would be nice to see some tweaks to really polish it a bit more. This is especially true for Odd Monster Out considering it is essentially the same as Bounty Hunts: search and destroy. In other words, the core concept is the same. In both mini-games, you hop around a map to find the correct target. The only difference is one mini-game has mobs while the other mini-game has no mobs.

     I have two suggestions for Odd Monster Out.

• Instead of mass spawning a certain monster with the incorrect target having "monster", make it so that every monster is MONSTER except one letter is different. The correct one being "MONSTER"
  Example ... MOnSTER, MONSTeR, mONSTER, MQNSTER. MON5T3R, etc etc.
• Instead of mass spawning a certain monster, mass spawn 2 SIMILAR monsters and then spawn a third monster being the actual "odd monster out".
  Example ... 30x Sasquatch + 30x Bigfoot + 1x Teddy Bear.
  Example ... 30x Snake + 30x Side Winder + 1x Anacondaq.

Battle Royale.
     No comment.


     The rewards in these automated events are nice. I wouldn't mind if it changed, but I also wouldn't mind if it stays. Final thoughts are that the majority of the automated events were done fairly well.





Beach Volleyball
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     In my opinion, this mini-game is by far the most polished custom server content/activity that has been released. No bugs upon release. The gameplay is fairly solid. The randomly popping warp portals provide a nice change of pace. The scoring system is reasonable. And, the rewards are good and balanced.

     The main gripe I have is the Power Hit tactic. In many Beach Volleyball matches, there are moments when a person can POWER HIT IN SUCCESSION. This greatly results in an obvious one-sided match.

     Something needs to be done about this in order to provide a more fair and fluid Volleyball match. No one likes to enter their first Beach Volleyball match only to see the other team Power Hit 3, 4, 5, 6 times in a row and then lose by a landslide. Moments like that discourages rematches because of the multiple power hits.

     As-is, it is a fun mini-game that can be played for enjoyment. I have two small suggestions, though:

• warp portal randomly spawns 1x Crab or 1x Hode for a few seconds before being despawned ... for disruption purposes.
• warp portal randomly spawns "beach garbage" items like Shell or Clam Shell ... for disruption purposes.

Trial Dungeon
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     This one was a good concept, but I felt it was lacking its own uniqueness. In my opinion, this custom content is like a mini version of Endless Tower except you can choose which order of "floors" you want to fight first. After you beat all of these "floors", you face off against the final trial which is a modified Baphomet.

     Difficulty. When Trial Dungeon got released, it had a successful streak of interest. During those times, lots of parties consisting of high-tier players were able to finish it with relative ease or so. Mid-tiers and the averagely geared were able to finish it despite having some difficulty from certain rooms. And finally, low-tiers and nonSQI-geared people obviously have zero chance of success. What I'm getting at is that this custom content's only visible flaw is that it hasn't found the right balance in difficulty. If your Trial Dungeon party isn't rich with MvP cards on every part of their gear, your team will most likely not succeed, and that is no fun at all. This content be catered to be accessible to the averagely-geared if that is the goal here. Personally, I would like to see that it does since vets and the rich already have Endless Tower to play with.

     Another thing that bothered me were the trivial things mainly the 15-minute cooldown per instance run. Why do that? There were many times when I randomly recruit people on mainchat for a for-fun Trial Dungeon run. And as always, the first run is never successful (hint hint, balance difficulty more) and when my average Trial Dungeon party returns to the Event Map to play again, we have to wait 15 minutes. This puts a damper on what could have been a fun-fill hour for six people. Instead, we play the waiting game moreso than the actual Trial Dungeon. The fact that there aren't any rewards (let alone loot) only makes it more frustrating to have to wait so long.

     The teleing from MvPs still haven't been fixed even though it was reported to have been fixed on an announcement. I could be wrong here.

     Also, as I mentioned earlier I feel like Trial Dungeon is lacking a certain sense of uniqueness. It is a bit Endless Tower-esque. It would be nice to see some additions so that Trial Dungeon stands out by itself without comparison.

[goldmind]

Halloween Event a.k.a. The Pumpkin Festival
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     I was thrilled that it finally came, but I was not thrilled that this year's Halloween Event had so very little to offer. Usually, players would associate big holidays with big Events. That usually means a decent-sized main quest and multiple small side quests. This time around, we got no main quests and only 4 side quests. The side quests themselves were done really well, however. I liked the fact that not many of them can be abused by vets. Newbies have an actual chance at getting the same amount of Certificates as a vet if enough effort is put into it. This is especially true considering the recent updates and changes for the Pumpkin Festival quests.


Mischievous Ghosts
     In my opinion, this mini diversion from the main activity (Trick or Treat) was really well-crafted. There are 3 disguised Mischievous Ghosts in 3 cities. And the fact that the kills (read: rewards) are limited means the competitiveness is put high. This ultimately means that being the first to find and kill the disguised ghosts brings great thrill and enjoyment. This is a good kind of competitiveness, in my opinion.


Trick or Treat.
     I found this to be fair. I felt that the mask quest items were not too much of a chore. Geffen ones were easiest. There isn't much I can say about it really. I liked the fact that this year's Halloween Event actually reflects real life trick or treating by making the players go door to door to get rewards. I believe this was not done in past Halloween Events. I can definitely see this make a return in future Halloween Events.


Pumpkin Harvest.
     It's great that the Pumpkin Harvest mini-game makes a return. It only seems natural now that it has a proven success in appeal and a certain level competitiveness. This time around, it seems there has been some additions. One of which involves Jakks debuffing players with a combination of Curse+Confusion+AGI Down. This addition makes playing the mini-game frustrating. The frustrating part is the duration of that incurable AGI Down. And, for regular players who get hit by it, it can be really nasty. With the recent updates and changes to Pumpkin Harvest, it is less frustrating to play which takes a load off. However, and this is just my opinion, due to the fact that the main problem is less of a problem now, I feel Pumpkin Harvest has lost its sense of challenge. The big hurdle prior to the updates were the lengthy debuffs. After the updates, there does not seem to be any real challenge in it and so it is less engaging for me.

     I have one small suggestion to make to improve the gameplay. Perhaps you can add a special kind of Pumpkin Harvest poring. When this special poring is killed, it allows the player to carry 1 more Pumpkin Seed and 1 more Fresh Water for 1 minute. The purpose in this is to give a new target to kill outside of the same old Pumpkinrings and Aquarings. In all honestly, it gets dull to have to see the same monsters every single time.

     Halloween Event rewards. This time around, every single reward that could be gained from the Hallween Event were all good except for one: Powerful Pumpkin Juice.



     I spent time earning 50x Certificates, and this single Powerful Pumpkin Juice isn't even worth that much. It has a Celeb Ring effect, sure, but it is single-use and for only 10 minutes. The most I would value this reward at is 5x Certs. Maybe 10x Certificates max.

     In general, this year's Halloween Event was alright. It was fair. I was anticipating more things to do, see, and kill. It's nice that the mini-games and rewards were balanced, and I recognize good effort where it's due. The Halloween Event had extended its duration for longer than it should have so it's not all bad.




     Props to the aRO staff for bringing us all of these nice custom content and the Halloween Event. I appreciate it as a player.

[Salamander]

Faction Wars:
I had the same idea about 4 or 5 man squads where the player is the squad leader in a sense.
The other thing a huge map bigger then normal maps where the war can take part would be cool. (A few maps if that's not possible.)
A different type of PvP for faction wars might make it appealing to play. I get back to this since it would need to be a goal driven PvP.

DQ:
The rewards still don't feel right but there is a topic to change that. The quest types like you said are bland which will also has a topic.

auto-events:
They don't seem bad maybe if they had more competition like you said.

Beach volleyball:
The power hits and other things didn't help it feel like one side would dominate the other side and cause people to quit.

Trial dungeon:
I didn't play this one but if it's like you said in difficulty then something is wrong there.
The best option is to make it restricted or give gear for the run like in the Halfway tower suggestion.

Haloween event:
I feel like it was to much grind but it got people to play a couple hours a day so good in my books.

[Kirek]

I really appreciate the feed back goldmind, even more so since it is constructive.

Warp Roulette-
   I will see about maybe adding monster infested zones, but before I do such a thing I would prefer a poll. Since though yes you should generally have a Butterfly with you at all times I do not want to make an executive decision.

Scavenger Hunt-
   Don't worry I know this is very boring. But for now it shall stay in the list of auto-events.

Odd Monster Out-
   I shall take the name ideas into consideration when I update the brothers. Currently now the name of the monsters should be random to some degree.

Bounty Hunts-
   Not much we can improve here, but if you have any ideas I'm ready and willing to listen.

Unfortunately there is not much we can do about getting players to participate. Since it's easy to dual client. However I do plan to add more mini-games next year. Just right now I am in the middle of a big project and got some smaller projects that were put on break for the bigger project. I hope to have it out by the end of the year. But If you have any good mini-game suggestions for the Dragon brothers be sure to let me know, you're free to PM me in forums.

[Aena]

Faction Wars:
I had the same idea about 4 or 5 man squads where the player is the squad leader in a sense.
The other thing a huge map bigger then normal maps where the war can take part would be cool. (A few maps if that's not possible.)
A different type of PvP for faction wars might make it appealing to play. I get back to this since it would need to be a goal driven PvP.

I think we could do with extending the Faction War so it feels more important and server-wide than the Prontera fight and Direct Assault.  Here was a very rough start of a brainstorm that could add another battlefront to make the "war" seem a little bigger, but no one has responded with additional thoughts or even a simple /nosupport.  (Did not mention having faction NPCs engage each other on the field like in Prontera, but they probably could, from time to time): http://www.anesisro.com/forums/index.php?topic=118743.0  I can't really think of long-term reasons to want to continue participation in something like that, however, aside from team spirit.


Odd Monster Out: As an additional comment about the naming suggestion - I'd prefer silly and subtle misspellings ("Mostner," "Munster," "Monstar," "Manster," "Monsieur," etc.) over unusual capitalization and numbers, but that may just be me.


I quite agree with most of your points.  I don't necessarily agree with the modernized feel in war setup by featuring Gunslingers and such.  I think for this game, it would make just as much (if not more) sense to make it a front line of Knights/Crusaders with a special trump card Gunslinger unit.  It just doesn't fit either the RO or Gunslinger feel to me.

[goldmind]

@Bounty Hunt
     I'd like to make a minor suggestion. When this automated game plays out, it all too often lasts under a minute. I've played games where it finishes in only 10~30 seconds. Perhaps alter the sizes of monsters to be 3x smaller and be muted (makes no sound when moving). This way, people like me do not have to use the sound effects to win so effortlessly. Today, I won 2 Bounty Hunt games in only under a 30 seconds each (more or less). I'd like to see it be a real challenge.

@Odd Monster Out.
     The reason why I suggested the upper capitalizations was because it was meant to make it slightly more difficult (emphasis on slightly) to spot out the right monsters from the wrong monsters, and thus, makes it more challenging and better overall. If it was manster, Monstar, Moncter then that - for some players - takes less than half a second to see it's the right/wrong monster and then just Fly Wing elsewhere. With MOnSTER, MONSTeR, mONSTER, MQNSTER. MON5T3R I feel it extends the duration of Odd Monster Out because players would have to take pause since all monsters are capitalized, and thus, all monster names look visually identical than it is currently. This specific automated game all too often lasts less than a minute (whether that's good or bad is another topic), and I feel if this game can be extended in duration for a bit more then it makes it more enjoyable to play. Basically, I am saying that capitalizing the names will make it visually slightly difficult to spot the right and wrong monsters which would extend the game longer. I've played this automated game so much that I actually don't even need half a second to spot the odd monster out. I just Fly Wing, Fly Wing, Fly Wing until I eventually win the game because I don't even have to spend time looking at the names to see if it's an odd monster or not.

[Aena]

I dunno, size difference is much more obvious and easier to see than a slight letter shape difference.  If it was one letter that's not capitalized, I wouldn't need a second glance when quickly hovering my cursor over stuff.  Difference between 5 and S is a different story, but I think it looks tacky.  A single letter difference makes me have to actually read the word first, though, rather than see an obvious shape inconsistency.

[Scott Aki Chan]

But I like Scavenger Hunt ><!