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.
Gameplay Experience Feedback
Re: Gameplay Experience Feedback
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!
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!
Re: Gameplay Experience Feedback
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.
Re: Gameplay Experience Feedback
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.
Re: Gameplay Experience Feedback
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
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
Re: Gameplay Experience Feedback
Thank you everyone for participating to our gameplay experience survey!
Please expect new announcement in a few hours :)
Please expect new announcement in a few hours :)
Re: Gameplay Experience Feedback
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
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
Slowly turtling my way up.