Gameplay Experience Feedback

[Wyke]

I am enjoying the lowered exp rates, and am slowly approaching 40 with no real issues. Have enjoyed being forced to travel and find obscure quests and levelling professions as I go.

My suggestion would be to revert kill exp to 0.8 xp. This will make the pain slightly easier on newer players but not take anything away from the existing players that have dont it the long way. Maybe offer a 2x exp potion in the shop that allows players to PURCHASE 1.6x exp if they wish make this work like a flask so lasts 2hrs and lasts through death, this way people can buy the exp in short boosts but not as a permanent 1-60 thing unless they are prepared to pay a large ammounty, but if so please make it so that its pretty prohibitive. I dont like shops, I dont like people paying to win and I dont like exp boosts, but that is my opinion on what will potentially help recruitment and retention even if I personally dont really approve.

[Talespinner]

One idea I've come up with for the leveling grind is to make repeatable quests give EXP. As many of these come into play around the levels where it starts to get grindy (Hippogryph Eggs, Blasted Lands quests, Zapper Fuel, Wastewander Pouches, Argent Dawn Scourgestones, Timbermaw, Salve via Hunting, etc.). You'd have to use some discretion to make sure people couldn't abuse the system by essentially turning gold into unending EXP (perhaps make quests that have tradeable items as the objective give EXP up to say 15 turn-ins, and 25 for Soulbound items that you only need to gather in the open world without fighting anything). It's not much more different than powering through mobs, but it helps to ease the grind and gives you a bit of help in the endgame by starting on your reputations.

[Rurarus]

Greetings,
I play Warlock on horde site, and my name is Morty. I'm the GM of the Russian Guild "Partisans". My people play together with me more than a year together, there was drama and other stuff, but we are sill together, we played on different servers, now we play here. How long it will be, i don't know. Well, but let's talk about the threat here.
There are few thinks I think people need to know about private servers, especially Vanilla servers.
Ok First of all. The only think about the server staff needs to care is only to fix bugs and making the server playable.
That's all, xp-rates are not the main issue. If I play here 1 month or 3 months to reach the max lvl, doesn't matter, only what matters so it is to have fun, because it's a game.

OK, other aspects what is important, then it's the kind of the server, this is a multinational server, so people play here from all around the world, and now the think is, everyone has a different language, timezone and culture. So it means, in order to play here, there need to be more people available at all. Because people are different, and have other views what is fun or what isn't. Also, people want to play with the people they like to play with, its normal and also right, Russians want to play with other Russians, Spanish with other Spanish, French want to play with French, and so on. Because culture binds people together, it's also a social game, to achieve something u need to be social.
So, second also very important think is, people will leave the server if they can't find a group to quest, or to go dungeons with, it's normal. So in order to find a group with other people, you need to be in a guild the people in there want to help you. Most International big guilds don't have this kind of community, because they are not for lvling, they are actually for raiding there. And don't tel me that tale of "lvling guilds" and "social guilds", in all multinational guilds, most of the relationships between the people there are formal, so it means, people don't gonna help you with your quest, because it's not in their interest right now, also the same think is with dungeons, and imagine you play a holy priest here or a warrior tank, its even hard to kill a non elite mob solo, so yes, who wants to play this way, OK, maybe you're a hunter who can solo it, but guess what, there is not a single raid with only hunters in it.
People will stay on server, if they will be "bound" to other people by informal relationships, so communication between peoples in the same guild is important. It makes actually fun. Also, the more different guilds are around, there more different people will likely stay here, because there will be more choice for people.

So in my eyes, this server will die. Sadly but true, people will leave, because no people are around. And the problem is, no one will help you either, (yes, maybe there are a few individuals who gonna help you, but this is a minority of the server population). New people will always show up, they gonna level to 10 or 15, and then, finish the game, because no other people are around, no guilds where you can ask for help. This is very depressing. No one wants to play like this.

Well, what maybe could help, is making a default guild. Everyone will be in there from lvl 1. Also, the people in there need to help other people with some elite quest, and getting parties together for dungeons. Maybe this gonna help. But it's just my opinion.

Sorry for bad English.

[Maerchen]

Hi Morty

people want to play with the people they like to play with, its normal and also right, Russians want to play with other Russians, Spanish with other Spanish, French want to play with French, and so on. Because culture binds people together, it's also a social game, to achieve something u need to be social.

I always wondered why there is a russian guild on every private server. I never understood that. Is English not liked/taught in school there? Your English is good so I don't think that's the reason. Why do you feel the need to split this small community even more by running a russian guild?

Not trying to be hostile, only curious.

[Rurarus]

Why do you feel the need to split this small community even more by running a russian guild?

Not trying to be hostile, only curious.

Which community, do you have a leader, do you have an agenda, do you have a culture?

[Glowek]

Normal rates is the right way to do. No game without players. Give existing players a compensation for their painful efforts. I loved the concept of the server but and don't want it die so quickly!

Rp/PvE is already a niche, don't make it even more strict...

[Josefina]

If possible, I am really in favor of progressive XP rates and increased XP for dungeons (ie, normal rates from the beginning). I think that will draw an additional player base without diluting it. Or have quests give full XP when grouped to encourage questing together, since there is already a leech to XP when grouped. Obviously this might lead to people trying to multibox, but with vigilance on the part of all players this could be avoided.

[Promethorn]

I've been playing a little bit each day after work so I haven't really gotten far, but from what I've experienced I'd say increasing the kill xp from .5x to .75x or even 1x would be fine. As others have said maybe have that be a toggle that people can set. Maybe give quests and dungeons an xp boost to still encourage that over grinding.

I don't think we need to try and attract a bunch of new players, but keep current players from getting frustrated and leaving. The niche style of this server is going to draw a certain kind of player and I think that's fine, we just don't want the small details to drive them off.

[Wyke]

Here is an out of the box suggestion, make exp rates 1x rates from now, as there is a 60 already, and then grant every character that levels at that rate the higher rank of riding skill as compensation. Huge saving in terms of gold and more than enough compensation for those that level at 0.5x rates.

[Zulfurax]

So far ive only played a hunter to lvl 10, the leveling is just as you advertised, slow and relaxing, in a month or two enough people will be high level. My guildmates are having fun leveling slowly and growing together, maybe doing some dungeons together or some elite quests, and they are all around lvl 40, the content is there, you just need to have the patience to experience it, we even have new pleople in the mid 20s lvl range. They are having a blast and they know it takes time, it is a mistake to take Tavernia as an example of the leveling process.

A good thing would be to have some quests that encourage changing zones to lvl, this would give some more guidance as to where to go next to find quests that you can do and maybe make dungeons give some more XP as an alternative to mob grinding?

Thanks to all the Turtle WoW Staff this server is amazing and I hope you keep up communicating with us.

[Basileonardo]

I'm happy with the server as for the xp, I'm lvl 35 and I'm having fun, each level is an achievement, however I would like more people to play and it would be nice to take some action. A little more exp? well maybe, just a little, to me in particular I would like to have more interaction with the opposite faction.
I think you guys do a really good job: D I love the turtle theme and low stuff, keep it up

[Minigig]

I been playing since 2004 and private since 2009. My wife and I, plus my 4 children are here because of the advertised rates. I been highly enjoying this server and been having as much fun as I was in 2004.

with 1x rates this is just another server with no pop. I am not sure if we would stay for another 1x server.

I like some of the ideas above. Maybe a bit more quest xp and if you could get xp from professions and pvp that be nice to see. I also like the idea of the > 1 exp rate potion. Maybe have it in the store and maybe have it be a drop from quests in the level ranges were it would help the most. Even have it be a craftable thing that a 50+ char could make with enough mats.

I am open to tweaks to the this idea of a slow server. I am open to help in testing and bug reports and this journey to find a server that we all can enjoy.

[Dodge]

As the population goes down, maybe we should consider introducing some crossfaction interactions? I do not want make everything common, but on the other hand, some crossfaction things can be even explained in-game, for example: If neither side (ally/horde) is not strong enough alone to defeat a global threat like a raid boss, maybe allow them for that ocassion to work cooperate?

Regarding experience rates: 0.5 xp rate is what makes this server special, abandoning this low-rate idea would make our Turtle just another vanilla server - which in case upcoming Classic retail would be even worse for our population (probablty all regular vanilla servers will lose a lot ppl then). Thus I'm against increasing mob xp rates to 1.0 original rate, but...

Instead, I would suggest to add more, alternative ways to gain experience, other than killing mobs, such as:

- give XP for exploring areas - I've noticed there's in xp for this (is this a bug, or was it missing on vanilla?), instead, player could be rewarded a high amount of experience for exploring areas, to encourage traveling and exploration, let's say: total xp from all sub-areas of a zone should reward xp = 1 average level-up for this zone's level range - example: zone X is for lvl 20-30 and has 10 sub-zones -> each explored sub-zone should reward xp = 10% of 25 lvl-up range.

- give XP for professions - for example for each gather (like it works on newer expansions) but also for crafting (for example a small amount of exp for each skill up or for each item made), could also be applied to secondary skills like cooking

- give SMALL amount of XP for grey mobs - this should be a really low amount, but making it non-zero value could encourage ppl to do more low lvl quests

- give some more XP for certain quests, for a period of time - this could be related to some in-game RP events or something, like: "1.5 xp from all quests for Darnassus faction"

- make some quests repetable or reset them after some time - I'm not sure how this would work but maybe there's a potential here

[Aldrie]

The leveling is not that hard, i'm level 28 and had some problems because i can't find people to do quests but just a few of them, and the same for dungeons. I agree with some people who asks for crossfaction interaction, coz the server still have low players and that could help grouping all the comunnity, and yes, that's not blizzlike but it don't annoys me.
The exp rates are good in my opinion, but maybe increase a little the exp given by quests.

[Zodiacarg]

Normalized XP rates, for example, slightly increased rates for quest and/or kill XP<<< this

[Almondx]

I've been playing on this server since it opened. I've found the community much nicer than other servers I've been on and the .5 experience rate makes questing and leveling much more enjoyable. At least for me.

I think the settings should remain as they are. What we need is for the new people who join the game to enjoy their first few hours of play and its up to the existing players to create that experience. There are many hours that go by with no one posting in World chat which makes the world seem dead. It really brightens up when a few people chat and joke for a while, but then it slowly dies down to a long dead period again. I think this is the main reason people find the world empty and leave. I try to join conversations when they occur as much as I can.

One idea I have been thinking about it to watch the /who screen for new players that join and to send a greeting to them. If a few of us did this it might keep the new people longer. Kind of a 'Hey Norm' from Cheers thing.

[Qesley]

I would like x1

[Broglin]

Good to you all!

It's already been said but I would agree that the premise of the server being rp/pve is going to be a low population and personally I don't mind that in the slightest. I accept that some zones I might be doing a couple of quests and then needing help and that is why World chat and Guild chat is great because you have that forum. Obviously not everyone is going to want to stop what they are doing to travel 10 minutes to help bur there are some of us that are constructive and will help out strangers and friends alike.

The mob xp does make a difference, some times you just want to gain that bit of experience boost clearing a group of beasts to get you better prepared for that tougher quest or next zone but when you see so little gain it can feel futile.

In keeping with the roleplay feel (and yes, not everyone here cares that some of like to play in character and recall that WoW used to be an RPG) what about some sort of xp gain when doing professions? Not quite sure how practical this is but I know I've encountered that mechanic on other servers in the past.

Another feature I've seen is where accounts earn reward based on time spent in game, maybe Turtle Coins could be gained using something like that to entice people to persist in their adventures.

I wouldn't mind seeing cross faction groups as an option, after all we can make our own mind up if you don't want to group with 'the enemy' because of your roleplay reasons, same as if I don't care for the company of someone I meet, I'll not rush to interact with them either.

All in all I love that you're hosting the server. I have spent a good few hours just sitting and roleplaying stupid stuff in chat, I've laughed while playing more while being a Turtle than I can remember in my many years of playing WoW. World chat is often quiet and not so receptive to RP (maybe you need to promote an In Character Channel, moderated for only RP based chatter) but on the plus side it isn't full of the usual childish swearing and joke that often leads me to leaving global channels on larger community servers.

I'll end there, sure that your tea has gone cold by now reading that. Thank you!

[Darknessbg]

Don't change the rates. All is good.

[Dutchie75]

At start let people choose between 0.5 exp or 1.0 exp. And give the 0.5 exp people a reward when they hit level 60 like a title, mount or pet.

[Seabraid]

The community and development team here have been so refreshing and along with an RP niche, really make me want to keep playing here. But the rates are a bigger barrier than I expected...I like the idea of going slow and enjoying the journey, but I burnt out by the time I hit Redridge. With Classic around the corner, I don't think it's an attractive feature to get, and retain, new players. Quite the opposite.

[Eluneara]

I am a discipline / Holy Priest level 31, I want to share opinion why creating groups for dungeon/5ppl elites quests it's too difficult for now.

Healing classes leveling is very slow if they are specialized on instances / groups.
What do I mean by "specialized on instances" - the character from the 10 level in the holy (disc) / restore / holy spec(s)
That allows you to compensate lack of a equipment on your party tank, and to heal a bigger range of levels in the instances. Now, when the server is very small, it allows you to collect groups more often.

Healer levels not for himself, but in the interests of the guild.

I will describe the situation for my class, unfortunately I have not played here as a druid / paladin / shaman, but it seems to me that their situation is the same (please correct me if I'm wrong)

So Holy / Discipline Priest

The auction is still too small, it is still difficult to equip the character - there is no way to quickly earn and wear blue gear, which means the closer you are to level 40, much harder will be healing as a shadow (dd) priest. When you play on a populated server, you can compensate lack of a mana regen / healing efficiency by equipment quality, now it is really pain in the neck.

Why do many healers prefer to level in a Shadow / Enhancement / Feral (balance)/retribution spec? I think because the exp is cut off, that creates "holes" in the leveling process that you have to compensate by grinding. The first "hole" I met was at ~29 level, when the quests were almost over, and the new ones were not yet present/known to me.

Can you imagine what is grinding as a holy priest? You have a wand + 1 dot (shadow word: pain) and that's all. Your holy spells damage is low, and the shadow spells are not efficient and have a huge cd. The priests have huge mana costs for their abilities and buying mana from a vendor is a luxury. There are not too many mages now, so you can't save money on buying mana from them.
It means that only a Wand + Dot leveling. Because making money on auction is very difficult for now. I have no luck, people rarely buy what I sell :(

Nobody wants to level with healer - since they are slow and "eat" the exp.

After spending a huge amount of time to get 1 level by grinding mobs with 0.5 exp rate, I thought a million times - is it really worth to be a healer?
Even exp amount in dungeons is cut, so it is normal thing to visit each dungeon only once for quests, otherwise it's just wasting of time.

Cut exp affects first of all the classes having healing spec (or going to use it)

Sure, I can make a dd spec and forget healing like a nightmare, should I remind that without healer dungeons become not available.

I hope that after the Blizzcon people will come here and boost the economy and it will be easier for me to wear decent equipment and the grinding itself will not be so unbearable anymore.
Rate x0.5 is a cruel blow to all heal classes without exceptions.

As a healer I prey you to change rates to normal x1.
For now I have only one choice - "patience and discipline"(c)Undead, so grinding and so on.

---------
Darkshrine <Partisans>
Undead priest

[Torta]

Thank you everyone for participating to our gameplay experience survey!
Please expect new announcement in a few hours :)

[Sinrek]

Just an exapmle I used to do with stop xp on another server (let's not name it) with a command you could stop xp gains and why I like Turtle WoW way of XP rates right now.

1. When you get to level from the start you crave XP as everybody else. So up to level 6 while you're in nubzone you don't need to stop xp, hence I didn't use it, however I had the feeling I'd outlevel these quests due to the amount of mobs I had to kill just to go where you needed.

2. Past level 6 I used to stop XP whenever I had my quest objectives done even though I'm in the middle of the mobs, since I'd have another level while getting out of all these mob infested areas, like mines, caves and forest's edges…

3. Later on I had to stop XP every time I'd go into the dungeons and instances, since elite mobs give out increased XP + you killed much more since you're in group and groups seems like feel inclined to kill EVERYTHING around. And I didn't want to outlevel the dungeon before I complete it quest-wise. As you know some quests require you to go the same dungeon twice sometimes.

4. I used to stop my XP gain when I traveled through higher level zones and on those mobs that didn't drop quest items, since I'd outlevel too fast and had my professions and items I'd make obsolete and useless. Turtle WoW gave me the chance to actually use my professions almost up to the full potential. I actually made myself a sword I'll be using a level or two more! Dunno, may be I'm unlucky with drops, anyway… I like it as well!

5. I like the idea of lower level XP rates since they make you go to the areas of the zone you'd likely skip if you had it on normal. Also while you level up you tend to sometimes see treasure chests around. On Turtle WoW I actually had my luck and almost all chances to see most of these chests and map them out for extra treasures! :D

6. Gold. If you level on normal or increased XP rates you tend to be as poor as a monastery mice. Turtle WoW have this fixed since you will kill extra mobs, that means some extra money. My first gold coin on normal rates I'd only aquire by level 15-16. On Turtle WoW I had my first gold at level 7. And yes, I took my time. :D

7. Secondary trade skills.
Normal rates - almost always underleveled if leveled at all, like fishing.
Turtle WoW - where's that trainer there again?? Ah, yes, a book... Sweet!

8. Mobs.
Yeah, that Claw or that Huge Gnoll Paw won't come easy since you'll need help and guess what? That's AWESOME! Here's the challenge for those "meh, I'll solo this again" quests from normal rates and "oh, again this green / grey quest" finally.

9. Community.
Dey got arrrpeeee 'ere!! :D

[Potatoknight]

...a lot of things.

Eh, just on the topic of levelling as a healer - you can heal dungeons perfectly fine as a DPS spec! Even at cap this is mostly true. :) Mitigating circumstance perhaps.