The changes we might of seen under a leader who isn't hamstringed by a "vision"

[fartbox]

These are the changes you might of seen in patches if the creative dev was competent and was building the game towards success so that it may survive and prosper and provide a game one could enjoy for all time. Not just a few a years. A game like chess that will be cherished for generations.


Multiple regional servers - server cap 1k - can transition your character between servers seamlessly while out of combat. Bank/char transitions seamlessly.
Property wipe/Castles added/Keeps increased in numbers.
All TC objectives/Sovereignty/Taxes revolve around castles and keeps now.
Most Tc structures removed. Most housing types removed. Players can still build houses, but they can no longer be sieged. They no longer have health bars(performance massively increased over current game) 1 house per account. The house now comes with a priest built into it. The house travels seamlessly across servers.
Blues now get two home priest teleports.

*In case you didn't know, each house and each structure has health, an individual status effect, that the server has to keep track of. Ever wonder why the performance only gets worse over time. It's a combination of the property system in mortal, a cancer to the game and UE5 being a heavier load. However, removing the status'd structures would increased performance dramatically for the server and for end user PCs.*

Massive amounts of small outposts added around the map. These small outposts come with guards, priests, banks, markets, crafting. The guards are weaker at these towns compared to typical guards but still strong and have both melee and ranged attacks at their disposal. Outposts in wilderness have extremely weak guards. they are practically bandits. Unfortunately only fools were brave enough to accept the job for these outposts.

Combat abilities added- Revolves around clade level. Must take certain clade paths to unlock certain abilities. Total clade level reduced to 10/ Exp readjusted to obtain level 10.. Mastery now starts at level 10. - Max abilities 2.

Thievery added - Unlocks ability stealth for 200 points Action points. Replaces one combat ability.
Stealth for 180 seconds/cannot be used in combat 25seconds/15second delay upon unstealth to restealth. Reduces speed by 25%. All damage breaks stealth/ If pickpocket used while stealthing, breaks stealth.

Meteors no longer scheduled, meteors no longer show on map. Meteors no longer have audio for entire server. Meteors only have a 5minute cooldown before opening now. A player must stand in the meteor zone for an additional 120seconds to activate the meteor. Meteor zone displayed in clear visual. Meteors fall at a rate of 3 per hour. All Meteors spawn combat . Meteor difficulty scales the longer you stay in its zone. If no players are in the zone, the event ends. The meteor cannot be looted until event ends. How you do in the event determines the quality of your reward. The event starts easy enough for one player but eventually scales into difficulty requiring 5 players. The meteor always provide loot, even if you fail the first wave. but the quality and quantity will be low.

All meteors can be mined afterwords, the rarity of the mineable is RNG and has no result of your performance in the event. Meteors despawn after 1 hour of inactivity if no one starts the event.

 

[Teknique]

Can we stop perpetuating the myth that Patrick Nystrom has a vision. It is the complete opposite, he is motivated by FEAR, and is more than willing to abandon his principles if he thinks people will mass quit.

As for the posts

Multiple servers you can switch between: Good idea
TC revolving around keeps was an MO1 design: agree
Houses have always been a plague: Remove entirely
Outposts: i'm fine with more towns/outposts
Combat abilities: I'd argue more for making the classes in the game actually useful and fun to play
Thievery: Yeah ofc, but its not just thievery thats missing from the game. Its everything, MC, MA, Magic, Foot archery, meaningful TC, they are all gutted in the current state

 

[Emdash]

Can we stop perpetuating the myth that Patrick Nystrom has a vision. It is the complete opposite, he is motivated by FEAR, and is more than willing to abandon his principles if he thinks people will mass quit.

As for the posts

Multiple servers you can switch between: Good idea
TC revolving around keeps was an MO1 design: agree
Houses have always been a plague: Remove entirely
Outposts: i'm fine with more towns/outposts
Combat abilities: I'd argue more for making the classes in the game actually useful and fun to play
Thievery: Yeah ofc, but its not just thievery thats missing from the game. Its everything, MC, MA, Magic, Foot archery, meaningful TC, they are all gutted in the current state

tru, we saw it change so drastically.

There was a time that I believed there was a vision and, as a stubborn person myself, kind of respected that. Now I know it's all about $$$$$$$$$$.

 

[Gnidex]

It was all a facade to mask incompetence in execution. That's pretty much it. This is why TC doesn't work and it took the game's population to spiral down before they even added shit that should've been in since launch like tabbards.

In the meantime the extended mastery grind did nothing except raise the barrier of entry for new people into the game. MO2 was fairly easy and fast to build a char up so you only had to deal with extended piles of hoarded and duped mats the vets had. Now you also need to grind this paragon system to even try and be competitive. Let's face it, the game is dead and SV is only digging the grave deeper.

 

[fartbox]

It was all a facade to mask incompetence in execution. That's pretty much it. This is why TC doesn't work and it took the game's population to spiral down before they even added shit that should've been in since launch like tabbards.

In the meantime the extended mastery grind did nothing except raise the barrier of entry for new people into the game. MO2 was fairly easy and fast to build a char up so you only had to deal with extended piles of hoarded and duped mats the vets had. Now you also need to grind this paragon system to even try and be competitive. Let's face it, the game is dead and SV is only digging the grave deeper.

Grind cope is just that; cope. OSRS and Albion have immeasurably long grinds to max out even a single skill. They are infinitely more popular games.

People unironically like grind if its implemented correctly. Humans seek purpose, to get strong over time is purpose. It is a good system. The problem when you start comparing the grind in the successful mmos vs Mortal is that you find that their grinds are accessible while Mortals is not. It really comes down to accessibility and being built from the bottom-up and not the top-down.

If that bar to play and enjoy your game is crazy high then its no surprise that the population is going to be crazy low. Because the people at the bottom of the curve in a predatory game are just going to drop out. They don't have the time or the knowledge to compete, they also typically don't have the time to acquire the knowledge, these are typically full-time employed people with social obligations on top. So they will go to another game where they can compete. It's perfectly reasonable and logical human behavior.

That's why it's important to design nearly everything in your MMO from the bottom-up and not the top-down. Those guys that can only play 2-3 hours a day are absolutely crucial to your sub/concurrent count and they are crucial the economy. Every single "predatory game" that has alienated them has died so far. Which includes some titles you may of heard of; Shadowbane, Darkfall, DFUW, Archeage

 

[Ask]

Grind cope is just that; cope. OSRS and Albion but have immeasurably long grinds to max out even a single skill. They are infinitely more popular games.

People unironically like grind if its implemented correctly. Humans seek purpose, to get strong over time is purpose. It is a good system. The problem when you start comparing the grind in the successful mmos vs Mortal is that you find that their grinds are accessible while Mortals is not. It really comes down to accessibility and being built from the bottom-up and not the top-down.

If that bar to play and enjoy your game is crazy high then its no surprise that the population is going to be crazy low. Because the people at the bottom of the curve in a predatory game are just going to drop out. They don't have the time or the knowledge to compete, they also typically don't have the time to acquire the knowledge, these are typically full-time employed people with social obligations on top. So they will go to another game where they can compete. It's perfectly reasonable and logical human behavior.

That's why it's important to design nearly everything in your MMO from the bottom-up and not the top-down. Those guys that can only play 2-3 hours a day are absolutely crucial to your sub/concurrent count and they are crucial the economy. Every single "predatory game" that has alienated them has died so far. Which includes some titles you may of heard of; Shadowbane, Darkfall, DFUW, Archeage

This perspective is so important. Been trying to sum it up like you have for a while now. The problem for me is not the grind itself, its the fact the game doesn't respect my time and allow me to progress it in a meaningful way. I don't want to join a zerg guild that controls a farming area and in not doing so I feel self crippled.

 

[Teknique]

I don't personally like grinds, and think that quick leveling was one of MO's advantages. That said grinds aren't a problem in this game since the game wasn't very grindy to begin with. Having a primate as the lead dev however. Very damaging.

 

[Emdash]

The problem is NECESSARY grind. Look, the only advantage of having a huge grind is basically that if people get banned, they have a harder time coming back. Beyond that, there are tremendous disadvantages.

Being able to spec your fighter is important. Beyond that, you get good. There are two different games in a good sandbox. There should be grind and gains for people who want that, but they shouldn't affect your characters raw power. You should be able to get stuff... like imagine no macros existed. So, fishing would be a great grind. You have to level it, which is kinda aids, and then you have to actually catch the fish, but the profit is nice. Not to mention, you have to level every skill, unlock and butch it until it's max unless you sell raw. That's a decent amount of grind.

I did a lot of grind. I don't dislike grind. I think some people like grind, but I am not one of the people who just likes grind. However, I like to see benefits for my efforts. If I'm still the same spec, but I mined 2 stacks of steel worth (assuming steel still has any value haha,) then my grind was worthwhile. Not only that, but my friends who maybe didn't grind can jump on and we can go do whatever with the gear I made.

There are an infinite amount of outcomes that can happen in a game like MO. So many different places you can hide, jump out, so many ways you can attack people... yet it is all boiled down to the same thing. You'd think that adding more customization would change that, but it makes it worse, I think. People just use it to juice the play styles they understand.

The best way I can put it is the same way that I put it before: in SANDBOX the grind is sustain. Because it's full loot, your basic viability is YOU, your will, and your skill. Everything else can be lost. All that other shit you grind for, you decide how much you want to put in and how much you want to lose.

MO WAS a different game, and it could be better now, but until you guys, who have legit criticisms with the game and aren't unintelligent, understand where WE are coming from, the game won't change. Why? Because you are saying something isn't a problem when it is. You are offering a level of support, even as someone who might not play, who dislikes the game, by saying grind or trinkets are good end game content, but it's just bandaids and it's super bad for the health of the game. That's why they keep introducing more and more juiced shit because they have to do more to excite people. It's a losing strategy.