a different kind of survival game

[orionwinterfire]

I know the game a far from complete, but I've been thinking that there's a bit of a compatibility issue between the MMO format and the survival theme.

Seems to me that anyone who joins a server after the first few days (once the children and the unemployed have pillared the island), will experience less PvE and more Pv-Internet Society. Not that that's necessarily bad (or avoidable), but noteworthy.

In my first hour on an official server, I had people giving me high tier weapons and armor, without even asking, for example. That's a HUGE difference in game experience just based on when one joins a server.

I'm new enough to the game that I'm still withholding judgment, but I can see this becoming more and more like every other social game out there (not a positive in my book, but to each their own).

 

[JoeTheSho]

27 minutes ago, orionwinterfire said:

In my first hour on an official server, I had people giving me high tier weapons and armor, without even asking, for example. That's a HUGE difference in game experience just based on when one joins a server.

At the same time though you don't have to pick up or use the items.

[Jerryn]

21 minutes ago, orionwinterfire said:

I know the game a far from complete, but I've been thinking that there's a bit of a compatibility issue between the MMO format and the survival theme.

Seems to me that anyone who joins a server after the first few days (once the children and the unemployed have pillared the island), will experience less PvE and more Pv-Internet Society. Not that that's necessarily bad (or avoidable), but noteworthy.

In my first hour on an official server, I had people giving me high tier weapons and armor, without even asking, for example. That's a HUGE difference in game experience just based on when one joins a server.

I'm new enough to the game that I'm still withholding judgment, but I can see this becoming more and more like every other social game out there (not a positive in my book, but to each their own).

 

Yeah, it will depend on the server you choose, and can definitely be a rude awakening.

If you are starting over for the nth time, getting a starter kit is nice; you already have learned the grind and the rules.  For a new player, I think too much help is bad, and some become addicted to it, almost to the point where others are playing the game for them; and I have run into this more than once.

I was fortunate that I took my time deciding before buying, and had done some research.  As part of that, I watched different stream and ran across a few that were educational.  And, final one, where it looked like a place I wanted to go; private and vanilla.  So I bought, I joined, and I worked my way up, until I hit the point where I could join the tribe I wanted(the one that was streaming).  And they both educated and helped, and had you pull your own weight.  One person that joined when I did got kicked because they did nothing but take and then run off of and wasted what the took.  That is, I made narcotics, arrows, and tranq arrows, and they took both to go off taming(and usually got killed in the process).

However, for new players who do not do all of that research(and should they really need to do that much), there first experiences with the game could be a huge disappointment, unless certain issues are final resolved.

I think, for the current point of game development, since this is EA/alpha, I think officials are okay, as you need some of what is going on to uncover the bugs, issues, and exploits, assuming you know the intent of the mode; otherwise what you think is a bug/issue/exploit is just a working as intended.

But, somewhere along the lines, I think better communications will be needed and user expectations managed on can/will occur when they get to a server; something beyond the sales pitch.

 

[DmpTrkDrvr]

I'm level 76 on a official pve server and the game is more of a RPG for me now than a survival game..  so yeah I agree with the O.P.

[orionwinterfire]

1 hour ago, JoeTheSho said:

At the same time though you don't have to pick up or use the items.

I didn't keep them for long. I prefer the survival aspect- but it's slightly less fun to be using a stone pick alongside folks with guns and poop.

Not complaining really, just making the observation.

[orionwinterfire]

1 hour ago, Jerryn said:

But, somewhere along the lines, I think better communications will be needed and user expectations managed on can/will occur when they get to a server; something beyond the sales pitch.

 

Definitely. Especially since the sales pitch is all about the survival aspect.

[Sn1per0]

54 minutes ago, DmpTrkDrvr said:

I'm level 76 on a official pve server and the game is more of a RPG for me now than a survival game..  so yeah I agree with the O.P.

This is what was wrong for me in PvE. I had a huge metal base, tons of dinos, more resources then I or my tribemate (wife) would ever need. We had hit level 90 and were just bored with the game. So I finally convinced her to come play PvP with me (been playing survival games a long time) and it is 10x more fun just knowing ever interaction could be a fatal one. Even my wife who said she would never leave the PvE base has yet to log onto the PvE server to the point where we gave everything we had to a neighboring tribe of friends and have yet to look back.

Just a thought for those that are having trouble finding the fun in the game on PvE. Plus more places to build since there are not pillars everywhere.

[orionwinterfire]

3 hours ago, Sn1per0 said:

This is what was wrong for me in PvE. I had a huge metal base, tons of dinos, more resources then I or my tribemate (wife) would ever need. We had hit level 90 and were just bored with the game. So I finally convinced her to come play PvP with me (been playing survival games a long time) and it is 10x more fun just knowing ever interaction could be a fatal one. Even my wife who said she would never leave the PvE base has yet to log onto the PvE server to the point where we gave everything we had to a neighboring tribe of friends and have yet to look back.

Just a thought for those that are having trouble finding the fun in the game on PvE. Plus more places to build since there are not pillars everywhere.

I understand that . . . And I suppose that's the type of atmosphere they're going for.

I just hate PvP with random Internet people. It has never been fun for me.

Again, not complaining. I love the game, and I always have the option of single player, plus I already feel like I got my money's worth if I shelved the game now and never played it again.

I do wish PvE could have its wrinkles ironed out, but there may not be a solution for it. It is what it is, as they say.

[DmpTrkDrvr]

I just wish pve made you designate a base of operations and the further BUILDING materials were from your bas of operations the faster they eroded.. so if you live on Carno island you couldn't pillar stone henge without having to visit it daily.. 

[perk8504]

12 minutes ago, DmpTrkDrvr said:

I just wish pve made you designate a base of operations and the further BUILDING materials were from your bas of operations the faster they eroded.. so if you live on Carno island you couldn't pillar stone henge without having to visit it daily.. 

 

spawn with a flag, or with an engram for a flag, that you placed declaring your base area...and then only 1 of those flags could exist in the world

an excellent idea, nice work

[perk8504]

and only 2-3 flags for a tribe

[DmpTrkDrvr]

How about a tribe ARTIFACT That gets given to the tribe leader when establishing a tribe.. then give each administration an outpost flag.. so 1 home base 2 rss farming outposts...  give these items parameters  that would allow advanced despawn of buildings if outside the effective range of the Flags... About the Load in range of most structures seems about right..  

[D4u2s0t]

When we played official, had a friend who bought the game.  Originally I think there was 6 of us in the tribe, all close friends for years.  So our friend gets the game after we've been talking it up.  He spawned on the southern beach, and since it was his first time I explained how to use the map to find his coordinates.  I go and pick him up on my argy, bring him back to base at the waterfall next to the volcano.  He walks into base, sees our 5 floor main house, other structures, rexes, full electricity, etc., but had no experience of what it was like to get this stuff.  Had no idea the struggle of getting off the beach as a noob, and we got this game at launch so none of us knew what we were doing until we played.  He was thrown into a base loaded with animals.  I kinda felt like to a degree we robbed him of the experience.  He didn't end up sticking around.  "Here's your armor, good tools, and here's a spare dino for you" but none of the rush from killing your first dino, or punching your first dilo to see what happens.  He didn't have that experience of walking off the beach, to realize how dangerous the island is when you are naked and lost in the woods.  I think this is all a crucial part of the experience, for me at least.  It took us 2 weeks to venture up north and be able to survive and start building, he got there in about 4 minutes lol.  

[orionwinterfire]

26 minutes ago, DmpTrkDrvr said:

How about a tribe ARTIFACT That gets given to the tribe leader when establishing a tribe.. then give each administration an outpost flag.. so 1 home base 2 rss farming outposts...  give these items parameters  that would allow advanced despawn of buildings if outside the effective range of the Flags... About the Load in range of most structures seems about right..  

Sounds like an excellent topic for the suggestion forum, homey.

[orionwinterfire]

14 minutes ago, D4u2s0t said:

It took us 2 weeks to venture up north and be able to survive and start building, he got there in about 4 minutes lol.  

That's an excellent example. I wonder if it would be in the realm of possibility to require new characters to be stuck alone in a mini-ARK for a couple of in-game days before joining everyone else in the server.

[MrDynamicMan]

16 hours ago, orionwinterfire said:

I understand that . . . And I suppose that's the type of atmosphere they're going for.

I just hate PvP with random Internet people. It has never been fun for me.

Again, not complaining. I love the game, and I always have the option of single player, plus I already feel like I got my money's worth if I shelved the game now and never played it again.

I do wish PvE could have its wrinkles ironed out, but there may not be a solution for it. It is what it is, as they say.

Perhaps you're in need of a big dose of RP? 

[orionwinterfire]

27 minutes ago, MrDynamicMan said:

Perhaps you're in need of a big dose of RP? 

Roleplaying? Lol perhaps. 

[MrDynamicMan]

23 minutes ago, orionwinterfire said:

Roleplaying? Lol perhaps. 

It's pretty good. Still engage in active PvP, but have all the trading and nice stuff of PvE. Not to mention Ring for hits,  or similar. 

[orionwinterfire]

Ring?

[NymeriaSaida]

14 hours ago, D4u2s0t said:

When we played official, had a friend who bought the game.  Originally I think there was 6 of us in the tribe, all close friends for years.  So our friend gets the game after we've been talking it up.  He spawned on the southern beach, and since it was his first time I explained how to use the map to find his coordinates.  I go and pick him up on my argy, bring him back to base at the waterfall next to the volcano.  He walks into base, sees our 5 floor main house, other structures, rexes, full electricity, etc., but had no experience of what it was like to get this stuff.  Had no idea the struggle of getting off the beach as a noob, and we got this game at launch so none of us knew what we were doing until we played.  He was thrown into a base loaded with animals.  I kinda felt like to a degree we robbed him of the experience.  He didn't end up sticking around.  "Here's your armor, good tools, and here's a spare dino for you" but none of the rush from killing your first dino, or punching your first dilo to see what happens.  He didn't have that experience of walking off the beach, to realize how dangerous the island is when you are naked and lost in the woods.  I think this is all a crucial part of the experience, for me at least.  It took us 2 weeks to venture up north and be able to survive and start building, he got there in about 4 minutes lol.  

 

Exactly this situation is why my tribe requires any new members to have their own enclosed wooden house with a door, a bed, and a storage chest before they can join the tribe. Gotta learn how to get your feet under you and survive a couple nights on your own before you branch out into the larger world. And even then, when we end up with new low-level players joining up, we prefer to take them out into the wilds and sort of coach them through the basics of exploration/resource gathering/combat/taming, but let them take the lead and actually do it themselves instead of just handing them a bunch of sweet tools and armor and a pre-tamed mount.

[swurvy]

2 hours ago, NymeriaSaida said:

Exactly this situation is why my tribe requires any new members to have their own enclosed wooden house with a door, a bed, and a storage chest before they can join the tribe. Gotta learn how to get your feet under you and survive a couple nights on your own before you branch out into the larger world. And even then, when we end up with new low-level players joining up, we prefer to take them out into the wilds and sort of coach them through the basics of exploration/resource gathering/combat/taming, but let them take the lead and actually do it themselves instead of just handing them a bunch of sweet tools and armor and a pre-tamed mount.

I wholeheartedly agree.  I've seen fresh spawns handed things (tools, armour,  weapons) that they don't even understand the process of how it is obtained. A full month of playing later, after being given everything he needs, and he still doesn't understand quite a few aspects of the game. I feel you are doing a huge disservice to any fresh spawn by giving them handouts.