Do we need a wipe?

[Ocfos]

@Fallon

Time is a flat circle.

Time is a CUBE!

Time Cube | Down the Rabbit Hole

[Fallon]

@james

Should we add NPCs - yes, no?

How about letting the Sanctum Elder say “Haku! Amaka.” more than once? He hasn’t ever talked to me again. Haha

Edit: or maybe it was “Amasa”

[bucfanpaka]

@Fallon

@james

Should we add NPCs - yes, no?

How about letting the Sanctum Elder say “Haku! Amaka.” more than once? He hasn’t ever talked to me again. Haha

It is a little unnerving for him to stand there silent and staring all the time. Maybe give him some snarky lines when you return there after death?

“Fell into the lava again? Well Done, Citizen!”

[Koshim]

I think we need:

• furniture and deco objects, to fill our rooms.
• more costumization, that we could get through crafting and/or challanges.
• throphies, so we can show our progress as class (like speciel armors/objects for hunter/builder/explorer)
• more Events!
• special dungeon on exoworlds with special themed enemies, bosses and traps. where Player can find loot (special chest at end? and each player get his own loot)
• Event Dungeons?

[Kal-El]

@bucfanpaka

“Fell into the lava again? Well Done, Citizen!”

Or just laugh. . we do have the laugh command already. .

[bucfanpaka]

@Kal-El

@bucfanpaka

“Fell into the lava again? Well Done, Citizen!”

Or just laugh. . we do have the laugh command already. .

Or a facepalm, that would crack me up, seriously.

Edit: Also the Slow Clap. Really, maybe some would take it the wrong way, but I think having the Elder emote on return from death like that occasionally would be hilarious. Serious suggestion here.

Edit Again: Though, with the disclaimer that I’d only have the mocking start after about lv 30 or so… might be a little harsh or confusing to a new player killed by their first wildstock.

[OubyDouby]

I read many terrible ideas on this forum, but a wipe?! Come on, why do you even ask?! No!!

edit: to be clear that I do not want a wipe

[LyndaFromHR]

@james

Why is it so hard to discuss hypothetical ideas without spiraling into people throwing mud at each other?

What’s so bad with asking the question: Would Boundless be a better game after a wipe?

Maybe yes? Maybe no? Maybe it’s an obvious hard yes? Maybe it’s an obvious hard no? How do we know without asking the question? If the answer is so obvious - explain why.

But we must be able to ask questions without people getting twisted out of shape. Without exploring ideas I don’t see how we can make any significant progress.

Every day I think about what changes to Boundless will help it grow. Help it be a better game. Help it be the best game it can possibly be. Exploring ideas from every direction is really helpful. Should we reboot the forge - yes, no? Should we reboot the skill system - yes, no? Should we reboot the crafting system - yes, no? Should we reboot the tutorial - yes, no? Should we reboot combat - yes, no? Should we add NPCs - yes, no? Should we remove settlements and footfall - yes, no? Should we reduce or increase the spawn rate of exoworlds - yes, no? Should we reboot blah - yes, no? Etc. Etc.

Everything starts with a thought experiment.

Let us discuss the idea - and leave our baggage at the door.

---

We’re not planning to wipe the universe.

But I’m open to any idea where there is evidence and an argument for doing something.

James,

Its hard to discuss hypothetical ideas for a number of reasons. For starters, its not your thread, so it isn’t coming from a place of authority or vision. Second, no one is practicing the Golden Circle when it comes to coming up with ideas. When I say “No one” I am really pointing the finger at you guys. Its not up to us to generate your content. You need to be the agent of vision and change to help gather feedback. Start with Why, not what.

For something like a wipe, or a retool of skills, or whatever, I will use a recent example from your industry.
Red 5 Studios is the reason why not. Firefall is the game. I was there in beta, I was in the trenches testing, I was involved with the developers. That was a game with great potential. Then they lost their got damned minds.

• Total change and revamp of the progression and class systems right before open beta
• Significant server and performance issues
• Staff Layoffs, including CEO Mark Kern
• Missed Christmas payroll

None of those things players can effect. But all of those things will drive players away. Which it did. After roughly 8 years of development, funding, etc, the game shut down, with only three years of that being live.

I use this analogy to demonstrate that significant changes will lose you population in the short run, and if it looks like your house is not in order, folks will leave indefinitely. That isn’t a threat, its evidenced by the pile of dead games that inhabit the steam catalogs of everyone that plays boundless.

I implore you, if you want a specific form of feedback, ask for specific, targeted feedback that addresses behavioral outcomes. Open ended questions that address the why instead of the what. Yes/no questions are about as productive as reading the daily mail.

To assist, I would rephrase your questions as such:

Forging (or really any question)

• Why do players believe the forge should be restructured?
• How do they want to see it restructured?
• What outcomes do they want to see? What is the players “definition of success”? What specific pain-points exist in the current implementation?

[Stretchious]

Maybe just have him stand there holding a death counter placard and shaking his head

[Evergreen]

@LyndaFromHR

James,

Its hard to discuss hypothetical ideas for a number of reasons. For starters, its not your thread, so it isn’t coming from a place of authority or vision

Why does any of this matter? That has been the longstanding issue on this forum. People have ideas and they want to publicly spitball and go over with others to test out theories and people just come at the poster super heated and fully loaded and just shuts down the conversation. That should not happen.

[Ocfos]

@Trundamere

As far as I am concerned you absolutely do. The NPE in this game I honestly feel is not good enough cause some people to understand some basic aspects of the game, I very recently brought one of my friends to the game, I actually had to point out to him, that he should follow that text in the upper left of the screen because he was not even aware that was supposed to be the tutorial, I am not sure what to suggest to replace the tutorial with at this time, but as far as I am concerned I do not think it is working the way it should.

Making the tutorial more interactive, kinda like the start where you have to warp to the planet, is definitely a very good way to go about things. I’d recommend an approach not dissimilar to that.

[LunchLadyArms]

If we were able to blueprint all of our builds, take everything we own with us including plots, then id be mildy okay with it if it were to happen lol

[Ocfos]

@bucfanpaka

@Kal-El

@bucfanpaka

“Fell into the lava again? Well Done, Citizen!”

Or just laugh. . we do have the laugh command already. .

Or a facepalm, that would crack me up, seriously.

Edit: Also the Slow Clap. Really, maybe some would take it the wrong way, but I think having the Elder emote on return from death like that occasionally would be hilarious. Serious suggestion here.

Bloody hell, that would be fantastic. I’d love a snarky emote quip from the elder.

As of right now, he just feels a little…empty.
I say that, because I stepped through him, and I didn’t feel anything as my body phased through his.

It was otherworldly.

[Goblinounours]

@Koshim

• furniture and deco objects, to fill our rooms.
• more costumization, that we could get through crafting and/or challenges.
• throphies, so we can show our progress as class (like speciel armors/objects for hunter/builder/explorer)

Oh my non-existent god, yes, YES! Me want! Give to the Gob!
Furniture! Trophies that you unlock with Steam achievements and which give you a temporary inventory slot where the trophie spawns, and you can only drag the trophie from that temporary spot to your real inventory if you have empty space. And then you can put it on a table, on the ground, or… or…

Sorry. I digress.

[MinerDiggerMan]

@LyndaFromHR

I use this analogy to demonstrate that significant changes will lose you population in the short run, and if it looks like your house is not in order, folks will leave indefinitely. That isn’t a threat, its evidenced by the pile of dead games that inhabit the steam catalogs of everyone that plays boundless.

It can also save games from being abandoned. One anecdote about Firefall, which was it’s own unique situation, doesn’t necessarily translate to Boundless.

What seems far more likely is that people leave games because they aren’t fun, and those dead games piling up our Library exist because the market is saturated with multiplayer games, and there’s only so many people around to play them.

Countless people have played and abandoned old Minecraft builds because newer versions released with tons of new content and ways to experience the game with updated biomes. For them, it was worth it, and it seems safe to assume the vast majority of people have never revisited their old Minecraft builds, even if they spent countless hours on it.

If part of the problem Boundless has with retention is fundamental flaws with the current planets being boring to mine for gems, and over-reliance on OP AOE tools, and some other system wide systems, there’s worth talking about this.

Some of the new exo worlds are FAR better than our current worlds. Wouldn’t it be nice to ditch some current worlds barely anyone uses and have the new worlds instead? These are questions worth asking.

They are not dumb, or stupid, nor do the lack empathy.

[Vurtadelic]

I was just throwing up a few reasons someone might think a wipe would be necessary for. I think the three reasons I suggested are either non issues or fixable with in the current Boundless universe.

[Damagekai]

Stupid idea ever heard.

[Kaplah]

@MinerDiggerMan

They are not dumb, or stupid, nor do the lack empathy.

She never called anybody dumb or stupid, she said the idea is. Huge difference between the two. Smart people, good people etc can have stupid ideas. As far as empathy goes an argument can be made that someone who wants to wipe another’s work in order for them to get what they want might lack empathy.

How tiresome are these “gotcha” moments?

[Havok40k]

@james

Everything starts with a thought experiment.

Let us discuss the idea - and leave our baggage at the door.

After many years and too many topics going this way, I’m largely certain that 95% of this community is incapable of truly leaving the baggage at the door. Some times the community produces a gem, a novel idea, or actionable feedback. But digging through the muck and dodging the mudfling is exhausting. So I’ll raise the question- would the game developers benefit more, or less from cutting the forum community out of the loop of continued development? Community involvement was notably beneficial during the alpha and beta development phases, but now? Personally I dont believe so, and this thread is my “Exhibit A”.

[majorvex]

@Kaplah

someone who wants to wipe another’s work in order for them to get what they want might lack empathy.

I have not seen anyone say they want a wipe to clear away everyone’s hard work and toss it in the trash. Where is this coming from?

As companies grow, they sometimes upgrade servers to ones that can handle more data/players/faster/etc, & they make backups. So it would probably be more like an overhaul or upgrade than a “wipe” if anything like that were to ever be used.

If they invest in newer/faster/more expensive servers and need to move things over to give us all a greatly improved playing experience, and need to add in some huge fundamental changes that can’t be applied now, it might be a good thing.

There’s no way they would literally “wipe” everything and tell everyone to take a hike. The info is backed up and can be installed re-populated on the new servers. I’m sure they’d also give everyone their cubits, plots, XP, blueprints, etc. Not sure why some people think they’d lose everything.

A game telling you they are going to wipe because it was in alpha/beta/EA and plans to go Live is different than over-hauling or updating a live version of the game.