Honor points at MP3

[Ungod]

I'd like to see your opinion on this, so here it goes...

Currently, a new player finds it hard to deal with the honor system and get points. If he/she starts on the new island, it takes some days to get to the mainland, during which theres no way to get honor (theres little chance of fighting someone there). Some beginner shop items require honor and there's no way to get it. But then you reach the mainland and in theory you can get it, only that it depends much on the mp3s you fight. You must make it so you dont lose honor when attacking, so first you need to have the same win/loss ratio and then train crits and sacrifice them for honor points. This can be a bit frustrating because you cant really experiment with your rituals as much as you like, and furthermore you become quite dependant on your partner. Now, MD is not meant to be easy, but at the same time it doesnt have to frustrate you. True, at mp3 its not like you can experiment much, but at the very begining you are being forced to do things one way only (match your partner, sacc crits for honor). True, one must advance, this frustration can lead up to ....determination, maybe. All in all, its about perception - and this is why i want to ask you whether you think a small change is in order or not. 

I dont think the overall experience is so bad, but it could be improved a little. What i thought about is a shop item (lets call it The Aramor's sacrifice), in quantity of 2 (or4) that gives one a (maybe variable) number of honor points. This, ti boost/ speed up things a little for the new player, who could use the boost for some shop items or to not worry when attacking an opponent that gives a little negative honor. 

It's not like it makes a major difference - its not a "cheat". All players, regardless the mindpower, have to watch their honor, so there's no need to 'spare' new players - its simply a little boost.

Is it necessary/useful ? What do you think?

[Chewett]

>dst reacted to this

What do you think dst?

----

My post is to come, I need to sleep, sorry!

Edited October 19, 2017 by Chewett

[MaGoHi]

I think it would be a good idea in general, but there are things you have to take into consideration:

• you have to be careful not to make it pay2win, if people are more or less forced to use it they are also foreced to spend their credits on it while they maybe wanted to use on something else (this could lead to frustration and make them give up on MD)
• what are the ways to abuse this system and how can you prevent it?(thinking of perma mp3)
• could you implement some training in rituals or explanations as part of the starter island if there is no such thing yet?(to maybe even let them experiment "in a safe environment)
• would it be easier if you just gave them a certain amount of honor to start with?
• would it be easier if the honor was just frozen at a certain amount for the first x fights
• would it be easier if you couldnt get negative honor points in the first X lost fights

 

well my thoughts on this matter,

greetings Mag

[Ungod]

Well, the general idea is that if one finds a sparring partner, it's more or less fine, in that it can get enough heat and advance to mp4, where he can find the wanted balance. My problem with that is 1) there's no room for experimenting at mp3 and 2) you're too dependant on your training partner.

Perma mp3s have it easy. They can just prey on the new people and that's enough to maintain their wanted balance.

it would be easy to give new players a certain amount of Honor, but the shop items ask for Honor points to ensure they are gained and that means gain by fight (that could be an argument against my idea, but my idea is to 'help' people fight with less constraints, not give enough Honor points to buy all items in the shop); the last two points mean you get to fight without considering your Honor points at all, so it kinda defeats the purpose of the Honor system.

you could also create an npc that can get (skilled) players wins, just as it is super easy to get losses with the LR guardians, but this is makes it too easy unless done in some creative way...

what can i say...it's more about how you feel about a small change, since big ones can create endless debates

thanks for the thoughts, mago

[MaGoHi]

i see your points you are right there

[Neno Veliki]

You people still don't get it that those awful perma MP3-s actually kept the influx of new people alive and the second you decided to mess it up is the second that everything started to fall apart. Plus MP3 is restricted to complete unplayability and is boring AF and that's why nobody sticks anymore. All the philosophy, NPC-s and what not you're trying to come up with now can never replace the real people you had back then. I know that those responsible for that won't agree with me but facts are right here. Then we had new people and now you don't.

Truth hurts.

P.S. no offend intended to you Ungod, your initiative is praiseworthy.

[Eon]

It won't make much of a difference. When people do manage to find MD they have no reason to stick around with such a low player base, being able to train slightly more (if you can actually find anyone else at your mp level to begin with) if you use credits won't get people staying. 

The only band-aid fix I see would be NPC training dummies set up (at all mp levels to incentivize as many people to be online as possible so there might be occasional conversations) so people at least have a shred of a reason to actually be online in the game and not just idle. It's one thing for people to come into the game and find nothing to train their creatures on, but to also have no one to talk to at the same time makes it look like a total waste of time to sink any hours into.

[Blackshade Rider]

I agree with Eon's and neno' s post. 

Most people leave MD cause almost nobody talks, or new players almost never get to level up to the next mp. When these new players finally do make it to mp4 it makes most mp3s stuck with little people to fight and the new mp4 is almost all by him/herself to figure out who they can fight right now. 

There are more mp3s than mp4s. To be honest I've only seen maybe 3 or 4 mp4s in the past year alone. And I feel that's a generous number.

This may be out of context to say this , but MD is dying because MD does not evolve with the ever changing gaming technologies. Almost nobody plays computer games anymore, and most people that do play computer games are able to play it on their phones or tablets. 

MD is currently not compatible with a phone. It is slightly but it's very limited. This is just a suggestion/theroy, what if MD had its own app that allows you to play like you would normally on a computer. Approx 85% of people who play games are apps on their phones. So why not MD take a chance and make its own app for the game? I honestly feel this may be the only thing that brings life back to md. Not everybody has a computer but 90% of people have a phone yes? 

Just my thoughts on this. MD needs to evolve like all other games have. I've found several mmorpg's that have both an app, and a regular computer website. And these games are thriving. Don't believe me you can find many examples in Google play . 

Again just my thoughts/opinion

 

@ungod you do make some valid points but I still agree with Eon and neno. 

Edited October 21, 2017 by Blackshade Rider

[Ungod]

(I don't bash perma MP3s. Actually, I like the fact that you have the possibility to be just that.)

I'm not backing my idea 100%, that's why I wanted to hear some opinions. And it seems that (since my idea is a minor fix) you folks want a solution, not a fix

 

[Blackshade Rider]

Not to be rude in anyway ungod, but yes I think we all want a solution, not a quick fix. But again you do have some good ideas and valid points, but a quick fix here is not the solution here. We need a perm  fix/ long term fix. 

[Mallos]

Back when I started creatures weren't restricted by mind power level and it was rather interesting to level them up. At some point that was changed, and now there are quite a few creatures that remain rather basic at mp3, I'm not sure if this is good for the diversity or integrity of the combat system or whether it helps mp3s understand it.

"could you implement some training in rituals or explanations as part of the starter island if there is no such thing yet?(to maybe even let them experiment "in a safe environment)"
" would it be easier if you just gave them a certain amount of honor to start with?"
" The only band-aid fix I see would be NPC training dummies set up"

Training dummies are sort of like the aramors and tiny men but those can be difficult to beat (or even find) at mp3. An option could be to implement something easy to defeat on the starter island that they could gain honor from.

I have a tablet (kindlefire) that runs MD fine but it was compatible with flash and as far as I'm aware tablets aren't made with flash compatibility anymore. A way to make MD run better on phones and tablets would be great. Extra accessibility to the game is always nice.

[dst]

On 10/20/2017 at 1:29 AM, Chewett said:

>dst reacted to this

What do you think dst?

----

My post is to come, I need to sleep, sorry!

It can be a temp solution to our current depopulation. I also see it (if coded in a smart way) quite dynamic: the "shop" to be adjusted based on certain factors (some brainstormed ideas below):

- if there are more MP3s logged in, the cost of the items increases, if there are less, cost decreases

- certain things can be available only in certain parts of MD (encourage travel)

- certain things can be available only when for example an MP4 or an MP5 (or a combination of numbers of those MPs) are online - same for the costs

- as MP3s age, more items are available (but maybe at a higher price)

- i still like my achievements idea  as it's done based on MDs history and can be a good way of teaching people about the past in order not to repeat the same mistakes (yes, there are tons of stuff I'd do differently - in a worse way, of course!)

 

 

[Chewett]

Thank you for all your opinions.

I think the saddest thing is that we just need a decent amount of time spent coding some of the new features and then a load of money like we had before.  I admire each and every one of you, my friends, who are coming up with various solutions and changes and I warmly read all of them.

Mur hasnt had the best of time and he was the primary force coding originally, I donate my time now and then but its leagues away from what I would like to spend,

Im going to see if I can find some time next week to work on some of the things I need to, to actually get the "features" in. Still some more backend work before I can "show" you things

[Blackshade Rider]

If money is a problem for md I'm sure the people of md can come through as they all have before. 

Just a thought

[Chewett]

22 hours ago, Blackshade Rider said:

If money is a problem for md I'm sure the people of md can come through as they all have before. 

Just a thought

Some people have defiantely said that and we apprecaite the offer, but for now there isnt a point. We need to firm up the start to begin.

[MRWander]

part of being a perma mp3 is to help the newbies i can only think of one or two newbies i refused to help and i ve told a few of the "active" players to send them to me and throw me a message either in md or out for those who have that info. that way i can set rituals they need be it heat or losses or wins and as long as the other mp3 is engaged in the game i dont even mind helping them get what they need quicker by training with them.

[Syrian]

On 01/11/2017 at 1:13 AM, MRWander said:

part of being a perma mp3 is to help the newbies i can only think of one or two newbies i refused to help and i ve told a few of the "active" players to send them to me and throw me a message either in md or out for those who have that info. that way i can set rituals they need be it heat or losses or wins and as long as the other mp3 is engaged in the game i dont even mind helping them get what they need quicker by training with them.

i also had my MP3 alts for this reason, and a few times i've been tempted to create one again, they are very useful and actually the mp3 combat, as limiting as it can be, is quite quirky and fun to navigate around. i would have had my other characters stay there had i not had to move them up for other plans, MP3 used to be a social place, a fair few new players, lots of questions, lots to do, sometimes even situations to work out that you didnt know before. if we started to get a bigger influx of players i may continue working on on the planned mp3 alt i created