Changing Beacons

Warning - Wall of text

There seems to be a constant stream of players that have left the game, or complained about or misunderstood how beacons and fueling them works. It is not hard to find players in the forums that for whatever reason failed to refuel a beacon and came back to the game to find everything was gone. Some are ok with this but others quit the game or leave bad reviews or both. I understand why the system was created. There is a desire to make sure that in a persistent universe, the planets do not become filled with builds belonging to players that are no longer playing the game. As someone that believed in this logic based upon experience in EA, I am finding now that I am not so sure it was the best design decision. I think the intentions were good and correct, but the impact makes it seem more punishing than I think was intended.

If I could redo the entire beacon system now, how would I change it.
1 – I would eliminate campfires as the initial “beacon”. I think they can be confusing and are really an unnecessary step in starting the game. I know I and other players have used campfires in builds, so I would suggest they find another use. Maybe as an easy source to cook basic foods versus the furnace.
2 – Reduce the material needs to make a beacon and make it hand craftable. If this is the only beacon then a player needs to be able to make one before they get their first crafting table so hand crafting is a necessity.
3 – Eliminate beacon fueling. Instead of requiring a player to fuel beacons just require a player to log into the game every so often. If the longest acting beacon fuel lasts 12 weeks then a player needs to log in once every 12 weeks in order to fuel all their beacons. I know some players will complain that we are removing an item that they can sell in stores. I think we would be better off with more players we might get if we eliminate fueling versus the extra items to sell. As far as the existing inventory of fuel. Allow it to be used to extend current beacons beyond 12 weeks to 12 plus the fuel. The fuel would be burned through first and then the 12 weeks will start. The recipes would be removed.
4 – Special treatment for the home beacon. There are players that for legitimate reasons might be away from the game for longer than 12 weeks or just need a longer break from the game. I would propose that the player’s home beacon will last 18 months. If a player logs into the game at least once every 18 months then their home beacon is preserved. Even if a player loses some beacons, they will at least have their home beacon remaining and everything contained in it.
5 –So why still buy gleam club? Gleam club will protect all your beacons and not just your home beacon. So if I buy gleam club then all my beacons are fueled for 18 months between my logging into the game. If I need to protect all my beacons for more than 18 months, offer a second tier of Gleam Club to do that protects all beacons for as long as the player has paid for gleam club. If I need 24 months due to a military deployment or other RL issue then I can buy the second tier of gleam club for 24 months.
6 – I would limit the home beacon to the player’s main character and exclude alts. This eliminates some players having 10 builds protected while others only have one. It helps to limit the clutter created when players leave the game and helps to preserve the value in buying Gleam Club.

My thoughts

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I agree w/ the getting rid of campfires.

But not every beacon needs to be 12 weeks. I say limit per prestige amount.

200k or less = 2weeks.
500k-1m = 4w
etc.

But this would end a ton of people having gleam club.
If this was in game, I would not buy gleam club tbh XD

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I do not like something that might appear to be punishing new players or players that do not build for prestige. As an example, I can build a massive farm, but due to the materials it requires, it could have very low prestige, so prestige has absolutely no direct link to effort made or to the value a player might place on a build. If I am a new player and start a build but then cannot log in for two weeks and what I did was gone, then why do I stay? New players are some of the bad reviews and if this can be stopped then why not do it. Sure we might end up with a lot of new builds that never get finished, but they go away in 12 weeks.

As far as cutting some of the players paying for gleam club, you are right it might. Personally, I would want to make sure all my builds were preserved not matter what but that is me. I can also see where the 12 weeks might need to be lowered for the all beacons coverage if the developers wanted to have more players buy gleam club.

Most I agree with!

I do find 18 months a tad long tho.

I’ve mentioned it before but what I think would also help a heck of a lot, both new players and not new ones is that new players have a lvl 0 planet where beacon fuel or logging on is not needed at all. Once they want to place beacons on higher level planets they should get an on screen message explaining that from then on they need to fuel or log in to keep the beacon active…

This also helps with random newbie beacons popping up with just a crafting table near existing players…

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I only say low prestige because, new player comes in puts down some wood hut or dirt hut then doesnt play again. You want that next to you for 12weeks+?

Hate to say it but prestige limit would be only way to set a few scales to determine fuel timer.

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I like your suggestions…

…except for #5. I don’t know what they should use GC for. Keep beacons fueled? Keep a portal open? Access to all cosmetics? A rental planet? I don’t think having GC should automatically take a person from 16 weeks of beacon fuel to 78 weeks. 78 weeks is too long in the life of an online game imo - so much could change in that time frame.

Edit to add: I agree that campfires shouldn’t be used as a “pre-beacon” and it does seem to confuse a lot of new players. Perhaps campfires should be just a cosmetic thing we can add to builds? Or make them really useful: you get X radius of faster healing/protection where ever you’ve placed a campfire (like how they function in Terraria)

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I agree with a lot of what you suggest. I also agree that campfires add some confusion to the new player experience. That being said, campfires are useful in some situations where you want to place something temporarily.

I also agree with @and the level 0 planet. I think new players should all be put on to a lvl 0 planet to get them thru the tutorial phase of the game… that way we aren’t stuck with the 30 block builds with a beacon and a crafting table… only never to see who they belong to. Give the players a “pre built” city/town where they can access portals and check out other places, but once they complete beginning tasks their beacon will expire and they will need to move to a “real” planet.

It’s 16 weeks for the best fuel.

Yeah I agree with most of what’s been said but 18 months on a home beacon seems excessive. If the player is never coming back and is in the way of other regular players, having to wait 18 months would be a bit ridiculous.
Though I can see where you’re coming from. A kind of safety net would be good so players can return. I just think there are probably far more players who try the game and quit for good than there are players who take a years break. Just my opinion though of course

I don’t think this should be linked to anything with prestige like another person suggested. That makes no sense since prestige doesn’t relate to anything with the person actually playing or not.

I still do like the campfire for temporary location creation when I am in areas and need a quick spot. It is easier to carry than beacon and fuel. I do agree that it needs to be 100% removed from the tutorial line and people must be taught to use beacons from the start. But it provides functionality that is nice and should still stay in a different way.

18 months is way to long in my opinion. We are a year into this game and I have seen builds that sat all year and never were touched in any form or fashion. I still go with EA terms that if you are not logging in at least for 6-9 months you should not be considered active and your builds aren’t special to you obviously. Don’t make us all have to deal with a person’s build that never plays. If people need longer terms then offer some sort of AFK mode where your beacons are frozen for those 18 months and you cannot log in to play unless you turn that feature off. Basically either you are active or away. You don’t get to do both.

I don’t see the difference being required to log in to get time and fueling a beacon. It might make some sense but I guess it really comes down to how many beacons you have. The issue here is really about people losing items and not really beacons staying around. I think we should just continue down the path of finding ways for people to “store” their stuff when they leave. For those that have builds then the blueprint export feature still feels better.

Or shift the whole game model and give people private planets where we can keep our builds and a “wild MMO” universe where things stay the same.

I am all for easier use of beacons and longer time (to some extent) but I don’t think we should just allow the universe get used up because a select group of people prefer to super rarely play or just are sitting on their build waiting and hoping for some content. IF we want that then fix the other issues this causes with limited planets or no space, etc.

While I understand the point we already have this with Gleam Club. If you pay for two years of Gleam Club you can go away for two years and all your beacons will be in place when you return with all your stuff. So in theory the universe can be filled by players that are not playing. Does my suggestion remove this possibility? No it does not since there is still a way to use gleam club. If players level enough and spend their cubits on plots they can cover huge amounts of the planets and by using gleam club they can claim a measurable part of a planet. I know several players with over 10,000 plots. So even with the current mechanics I think we have the same issue.

That is completely a fair point for sure. Even though I use it, I never was a fan of GC and still believe it went against so much of what we all wanted during EA. In this case I guess I can justify that “away” the person caused as ok because at least they paid an extra charge for it. Plus if they did really quit after their GC is done their plots go poof!

I do believe we need to be more forgiving and give more options for people that don’t want to play every day and GC really isn’t an option for every person. I just don’t want us to mix up people that need a true AWAY from just ignoring the game but in the way of all of us daily players.

I am not sure what that balance is. Certainly more tutorials to teach people. Better fuel options where maybe basic fuel lasts 3 months instead of 1. That is a very easy change that does help some without too much change to the base systems. As well as more options to allow people to save their stuff easier.

Yup lol…some with many 10Ks…

plots2 plots23

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Did somebody reserve plot like 1/4 of a planet…?

Yeah, that is on Seganiakai. Single wide rows of beaconed plots with 4 rows reserved in between each beaconed row.

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Lol MajorVex Showing off my handy work this was a secret! not that you could see it from the other planets but ya=p.

Anyway that was me figuring out where I was going to actually plot a good size section for a themed city some folks are working on. If anyone else is interested you can message me.
Most of the rest will get released either soon as I am done in the next few days or when the reserve thing gets changed.
Anyway Happy plotting!

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I didn’t say any names lol … it’s very visible from the sanctum now
Gonna be interesting to see this place start coming to life :+1: :slightly_smiling_face:

I pity the player that gets this for a starting planet.

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Well perhaps once so much of the planets plots are claimed or reserved then that planet stops becoming an option to spawn on as a starter.
Anyways heard rumor that once a planet gets claimed up so much or so many players are there at once, then there will a triggered new planet! So want another cira planet lets all massive play there for a while to tru and trigger new planets? I guess exotic yams not a big issue for the cira hunt runners anymore?

I think 18 months is a bit much and removes a lot of incentive for gleam club. Allowing an all-beacon refuel on login is a bit cancerous since F2P players and GC members alike tend to plot haphazardly and forget about beacons while not doing anything to them, which could cause problems for cities and settlements who want to develop land with players who are active. There has to be some tie to labor/effort to balance landownership. If this HQ type beacon could have a plot limit then maybe I’d see some merit in holding land for “vault” purposes. However, this kind of goes back to the “what should happen when a beacon expires” convo that we’ve had in the past.

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