Pets don't really fit well into a first person game anyhow. The onyl reason they're in is because Henrik played a tamer in UO (and that should tell you all about his skill).
Answer the question; What is the number 1. reason the Mortal population is declining? A homework assignment for all Mortal enjoyers.
- Thread starter fartbox
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Nothing is gonna kill MO more than it already is dead. The bleed out happened.
If it does die, they might realize they were wrong.
There is supposed to be a pathway in a game like this where actions lead to more actions. There is even solo gameplay when enough things are pushing against each other. The fact that they neutered / stifled action in so many ways and created closed loops (where the gain goes to NPCs opposed to the economy) is just bad theory.
But yeah I don't think that now with sub there are a lot of 'just hanging on' people. It seems more people are playing, on average, even though it's from the same pool. So the same players are playing more, imo. I don't think that pool is vulnerable to another game. They have too much investment in MO.
If it does die, they might realize they were wrong.
There is supposed to be a pathway in a game like this where actions lead to more actions. There is even solo gameplay when enough things are pushing against each other. The fact that they neutered / stifled action in so many ways and created closed loops (where the gain goes to NPCs opposed to the economy) is just bad theory.
But yeah I don't think that now with sub there are a lot of 'just hanging on' people. It seems more people are playing, on average, even though it's from the same pool. So the same players are playing more, imo. I don't think that pool is vulnerable to another game. They have too much investment in MO.
Bittervets said the same thing about DFUW and then Archeage dropped. DFUW went from 800 concurrent to 200 concurrent overnight. I wonder how many titles bittervets are responsible for killing? They almost killed EVE as well. Thankfully they stopped listening to them. People follow the action in predatory games, just like in Poker, people follow the fish, If the fish don't sit then the game doesn't run. That's why its important for Mortal to build from the bottom up, just as Poker does, to ensure that "the fish" always has a fair shot. That keeps them coming back despite losing in the long term.
Mortal is a predatory game, as are all games with incentivized player killing but not only that, it is also a RPG and a FPS. You have to build understanding the game theory for all of these types of games or the game will end up without a population large enough to support its continuation.
Now is the time if the community decides it wants to save the game or let AOC be the final nail.
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AOC is something I am looking forward to. I am not a brand fan of MO haha.
MO1 never died and it was not only trashy but it had a lot of controversies. They added walls and people used them to block off huge parts of the map, it didn't die. They got their shit hacked and doxxed everyone's info; you can google it if you were there, your info is on the dark web. The game still didn't die haha. Keep in mind that you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what MO is.
However, by most standards MO is dead now. You have to understand there will always be a few thousand people who enjoy what you can do in MO, and the way they softened it, there are probably a few more. People love building and farming, feeling as though they are succeeding. They will pay for it.
I don't understand why you keep talking about bitter vets because all of the bitter vets already quit MO and most don't even post. It's a different game. Bitter people push a game like MO. There are supposed to be layers, but there is a huge amount of bitterness and, as you said, predatory behavior in MO, but at its core are people who wanna do their own thing and are constantly pushing against that.
There are people who just get farmed. There are people who push back against the predators, and there are predators that fight other predators. The one 'game theory' problem that hasn't been solved is the monopoly 'nutcup' strategy where all the apex predators don't seriously compete against each other, but that usually falls apart due to drama. That's why little things eventually can lead to all out war. It's not much different than the real world, though, people would rather not fight wars that will lead to big losses, even if they win. It's like an animal could kill another animal, but it could also get injured and then be unable to continue to feed itself / defend itself, so unless the situation was dire, it would go for something easier.
The megazerg is the only thing that I don't see a solution for. However, even that creates content for all players. There are tiers, as I have said before. It's complex.
I wanna know MO is working well enough. I enjoy reading about what is going on in game (back when stuff was,) and watching videos of people, even if I can't commit to playing at that time. Sandbox is a tough genre and the idea of putting hands on it or limiting freedom beyond a certain point to make it more accessible or to retain players... there are only a certain amount of spots. That's how the game is designed. Just like there are only a certain amount of keeps. It goes down from there. It can only support so many people and then others will get pushed out, assuming they are trying to do the same things as other people. I was able to survive in the margins, and that's what solos do, and there is great solo content when the game is thriving.
The one thing going for SV is that in my opinion sandbox has not been done properly, so their failure is not unique. Their building blocks are good. However, the focus should be on making the game mechanics work right not what people will do with the mechanics. You can't prevent people from being griefed out of the game. I mean, you can, but you are ruining so many other things by doing that.
It's competition. It's like the playoffs of some sport, or the olympics. Not everyone can make it. Some people have to compromise to make it. It could be a lot worse, like what Pax Dei seems to be setting up, which is a completely player controlled world... which would lead to a lot more compromise and a lot more mega zergs defining people's behavior. MO has the right amount of 'safety.' Safety is towns and city banks, not being guarded by elite guards and lictors.