Some Changes

If you have an idea post it here
Post Reply
Tirith
Posts: 278
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2002 10:45 pm
Title: The Raging Darge
Contact:

Some Changes

Post by Tirith »

I don't really know the direction the game is going, there have been promises of updates, fixes, etc. In recent years drakkar has become stale. Months/years go between updates and its driving away players who more than anything else, just love to play this game. Anyways, a few things I think should be done.

Remove an alt of nork, and allow previously paid players to log into free nork on an unpaid account. I just dont see any reason for more than one alt of nork now, they are both empty most of the time, combine the traffic into one.

Same with ccob/regular cob. Just keep the features of ccob and the difficulty of regular cob, and make it one scenario.

Is crazy aleria still up? that silly scenario needs to be done away with long time ago, there is crazy skill gains not in line with the difficulty of it. I asked for its removal a long time ago (even if it had been my idea in the first place, the crazy skill vs difficulty was not my idea).

Potions tying to scenario, remove that, annoys everybody and whatever the temporal continuity to hold an item. Some players have items stuck on locker accounts because of this, Not sure what the intent is/was but surely there is no reason to keep it.

Whats the chance of getting DrakTools back? Could make it a platinum account feature. Shouldnt be too hard to put together.

Mega lairs, when was the last one? about time for a new one and some new artifacts in the game.
Put that together with a new player appreciation event, that one time event was something anyone who played at the time has never forgotten. It was a blast. Could we put together one that would take place in Nameless Lands that could include all players, Several lairs invading one area, special drops, etc. Make it a big event, you could advertise it several months in advance and maybe get some players return for it.

Ken
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2013 7:47 pm

Re: Some Changes

Post by Ken »

Some of your suggestions I fully agree with Tirith.

I am as eager as you for new content and hope that it comes out soon. Side skilling can only keep one occupied for so long

Also I agree that temporal continuity should be completely done away with. That feature certainly only inconveniences people. The whole idea of a locker account is to locker all the junk that we get on our big crits that we have no room for. With temporal continuity in place, we can't locker alt 2 pots, spare gear ETC. Additionally, this makes free enchant Ments much less viable since they can't enchant the items from the many NL quests requiring enchantments due to being unable to pick them up! The potions tying to scenario is also annoying. I can understand if certain cob potions can only be drank in Cob, but since it extends to those yellow potions in Nork, I believe it is going too far. In these cases it would be convenient if Cob potions can be drank no matter which scenario of cob you are in and Nork potions can be drank in either scenario of Nork.

As for Mega Lairs, Since I have not been a big player for very long, I did not have the fortune of attending any of these. I did hear many horror stories though and would definitely love to attend one if the chance arises <G>

However, some of the things you said I disagree with:

For instance, I do not think that the scenarios of Nork/Cobrahn/Aleria should be reduced to one scenario each. Even though there is less people playing then there were before, It can sometimes still be difficult to find certain lairs at home. Imagine what cutting the scenarios in half would do for this? Also, Crazy Aleria is great for quirk points. Without it, it would take a very long time to max out a crit's quirks. My barb for instance is level 85 so he couldn't gain quirks in Caleria. His only choice was NL and it took him well over a year to make a dent in his quirks. AND I PLAY A LOT (For those who don't know it's best to stay level 76 for better quirk gains). If Caleria was removed, this would become the reality for everyone. The Skill gains may be fast, but the experience gains are negligible so there is a tradeoff. One more thing about Caleria is that it is one of the only reasons that people even go to Aleria anymore. Without it, Aleria would just become the obscure, dead scenario that it was before.

Now for an issue that is unrelated to Tirith's comments:

On behalf of the free accounts, I don't think that it is fair at all to limit the lvl 13 HP Doc limit to 60% of the paid account max. (For example free ments only get 209 HP compared to 350 HP for a paid ment) It just artificially weakens the crit that already gets no quirks or party abilities in a scenario that has faster rounds then before. So lowering their HP is doing nothing but making it that much harder for them. Additionally, if someone who pays for the game wanted to make a free account just to test their skills or patience, it would be nice to be able to have the same lvl 13 HP doc max as their fellow paid players. It's not like they have access to Hitos.

I hope other players will join this debate and supply their opinions. HH everyone!

Slyster
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:27 pm

Re: Some Changes

Post by Slyster »

Agreed about Nork. In all honesty I would look at raising the experience and skill gain also so new players can catch up quicker to do more interesting things in the game. As it is Drakkar has become a solo game and is why so many people run multiple accounts now.. Raise EXP , Skill , Fast rounds and remove auto hit (or at least make it respect armor worn).

Agreed about Cob. Keep fast rounds , remove auto hit ( or make it respect armor worn ) , increase exp and skill.

The last 8x Nork seemed about right to me in EXP and skill but I would probably round up to 10x anyway. Maybe even higher depending on the location.

At this point in Kingdom of Drakkars life I think it is overdue to stop looking at Drakkar as a game to play for 10 or 15 years. Instead maybe it should be about being able to jump in and have some fun making progress over multiple characters. That would be more attractive to new players and possibly even keeping them. Most of the time I hear about how ancient the game looks but they try to play anyway and then I hear about how painfully slow progress is and then they leave.. Then maybe remove or tweak some of the more tedious mechanics of the game like the HP Doc / Training Costs. A normal Nork player would take forever to do the HP doc and 15 years ago when I started playing I was fortunate enough to have Mom help me with it. I doubt a new player actually sticks with it long enough to get half way through that nowadays. And a normal player not fed by coin outside of Nork is never even close to being trained.

Some Vet Players are just going to have to get over it IMO.

Never went to CAleria.

Potions would be a good change too.

But stepping back and looking at it all. Maybe it is time to just say Drakkar is the way Drakkar is and always will be and ask Brad to start on a successor. A game with Android , iOS and PC support - Newer mechanics , art , more little animations , class models and sounds ( If I am fighting an Ogre than the sound should tell me I am fighting an Ogre )..etc. There is the cost too but now there is kickstarter and other crowd funding sites and I would be more than willing to pay for just a single town and a 10 level dungeon to start out. It is just my opinion but I think Brad's effort and money would be better spent doing that than trying to patch up a 25+ year old game.

Slyster
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:27 pm

Re: Some Changes

Post by Slyster »

If Nork were to changed to be free and playable even to old paid accounts there probably would need gear limits on old unpaid accounts like only Nork gear or something.

Maybe just doing something completely different.

Nork - Free.

Cob - One time $15 Fee.

Nameless - One time $25 Fee.

Premium Subs

$4.95 - Silver - Contains Lower GH + Increased EXP / Skill gain.

$9.95 - Gold - Contains Upper GH + Even more EXP / Skill gain.

No more platinum.

Edit : Change the Nork HP Doc to offer quests instead of taking coin. New players would actually have a chance to do those over having to gather millions and millions and millions worth of gold in Nork.

Mantorok
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 4:57 pm

Re: Some Changes

Post by Mantorok »

When are these changes going into effect? Tirith is on point with all of his suggestions. The game is not accessible to the average player and these changes could help move things in the right direction.

Some commentary:

Nork is dead. There are zero new players. There is no longer a need for two alts. Especially since free players can only access one, it virtually eliminates any chance for a community of new players forming if you're separating alts with a paywall. The few people that still pay to keep accounts active only care about end game content. Nobody cares about Nork. Sometimes I will log in during the week on a free account just to open doors around town. That means I'm the only person to run around Nork town each week. I can't imagine the dungeons see much action.

Same with Cobrahn. Merge that together and remove autohit. 99% of people don't care about Cobrahn. Make it more appealing and more accessible in case someone stumbles upon Drakkar and makes it that far in the game.

Take down crazy Aleria and double the round speed in normal Aleria. Make this more new player friendly. I was all over Drakkar in its hayday, but these days I can't stand normal round speed. Waiting 3 seconds to do something is practically an eternity these days. Just imagine trying to get a 16 year old to wait three seconds between actions in a 16bit game.

Potions tying to scenario is unecessary. Let's try and keep everyone together now. If I actually manage to get my friend to play this game, let me give him con pots from another scenario.

User avatar
Areyekuwe
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2015 3:16 pm

Re: Some Changes

Post by Areyekuwe »

Did not read everything posted on the thread.

What I like.

Designate a "Free" plan and a "VIP / pay" - silver,gold, platinum...

Make one pay plan, make it cheaper to be "pay".

Provide big in game incentives to be pay.

Keeping 2 alts of Nork is good.
Reducing numbers of servers in general is not a good idea, fewer servers, less content. Less content=no good.

Game needs to be promoted on gaming websites. to increase flow of newcomers.
Are you a writer on Drakkar issues and also follow news / current events on the IRC?
You are hired: https://areyekuwe.wordpress.com/ -Writers wanted.

Post Reply