Continue to lower the in game situations and game mechanics that cause player conflict among each other.
Remove some legacy game mechanics that force interaction among players and turn it into an optional requirement. You can’t fit MMO players and Solo players into the same game unless you give each the ability to play the game fully the way they want.
Increase your focus on giving people the tools and assets that support builders, creativity, and doing things Builders love to do. [Repeat the same thing for whatever other type of class (fighter, healer, etc) you want in the game.]
Create more foundational tools and interaction methods for players to want to team up and grow the MMO feel.
Give more storyline and reasons for people to want to log in or give the player base the tools needed so they can create those reasons.
Streamline how rare/common items are handled and either enforce it by removing player based regen or loosening it and increasing density of resources and access ability. The system doesn’t work now because it is trying to serve two different masters.
and what I think is most important:
Far away from this forum - create some form of positive feedback loop so you understand what people are not getting when playing the game or why they are leaving. You need to hear more from the average player and not the fans (we are already too inbred). This could be done via some quest or other NPC type game interaction thing. Something that will maybe help turn around things so the average person becomes a fan.
Yes please! This has been an insane transition coming from Old School RuneScape as an Ironman.
That game mode really forced me to appreciate all areas of the game(locations, mechanics, lore, and most importantly the grind). I wish they had a similar restrictive play style here but the game backs you into an interaction corner.
I’ve tried to answer this a few ways, but I guess what I’m struggling with is I’m not sure why the majority of players leave and at what stage of the game they are when they do.
I do know quite a few that are on a break from burnout or waiting for content, these players intend on coming back so that ones easy. But as for the ones who have actually quit I’ve only chatted with a few, not enough to say that I understand where the issue is. I’m also a PS4 player so don’t see the steam reviews. The players I have talked too though; newer players have stated it’s not the game they thought it was, the in-game tutorials and help sections suck. The players that have been playing a while and quit have told me primarily that they are bored. A few others have quit because of unresolved squabbling and were just too frustrated to continue, and then a few others who were just casually playing and waiting for other games to be released.
I don’t think I’m adding information from a large sample size, so not sure if I’m making a valid contribution to this post.
I will add though; I think understanding what type of demographics for the players that stick with the game and why they like and play the game may help alittle more towards attracting and retaining more players.
The devs should first focus on player attraction than retention by getting rid of anything that looks like a lootcrate as it’s one of the prime things that is scaring potential players away, alongside of updating the dev screenshots and trailer to show post launch content instead of the current ones that only show pre-launch content that no longer exists.
TERA is Korean, and I don’t remember penalties being severe (not played in a while). They certainly aren’t in WoW or TESO. But this is besides the point. Severe penalties (for what may be bad luck, or the phone ringing at the wrong moment) are not fun. If the game is not fun, people will stop playing. Which is what this thread is about.
In any case, I do agree that the trailer and the general focus of the game don’t quite feel “real” to the actual experience, to me. My partner and a friend often joke that the game doesn’t seem quite so “Boundless” when watching me play.
Primarily, I think for new players, the game can feel a bit sluggish. Though that may just be my perception of it, I’m not sure. I think people who want to stick with the game for what it offers will, and others who might have stuck with it, but don’t, are simply put off by several small things, understandably so.
It’s completely optional and has a failsafe to disable it if you ever choose to do so
The skill system is the only thing making it fairly infeasible - but I think it’s achievable. Is there a way to buy a 2nd account on steam without needing an entirely different steam account? I might want to try an Ironman style let’s play but feel like I’d need all of the character slots to get all the skills I would need.
A lot of us would agree with this but the concern is without a focus on retention people will leave and the numbers not change - e.g. like what happened with free weekend. So it seems to me that is why most of us are putting a preference on retention first.
I do know that the Devs are looking at solving how to attract people. So I am sure if someone started a thread on that they would love to see the data and thoughts.
We just need to collectively think of ways that similar systems can be implemented in game that wouldn’t be overly taxing on the servers. I don’t think we will get a full red stone like system, but we can suggest other cool things
Does anybody know the retention numbers? This isn’t sarcasm or trying to put the post down I’m honestly curious.
There are absolutely great ideas here that could help the game in the future but I think most of us are too worried about player base, too worried about growing game quickly . I think we forget how small wonderstruck really is. They’ve created something so incredible that it feels to us like a big title. Personally I’m amazed at the work they have done so far with the ressources they have and I believe there are great things in the future for the game and obviously us because we play it.
Keeping that in mind I think we need patience to let it grow properly. The free month on ps plus would be great but not right away. I think a large influx of players would create more problems than help. The devs have seen the divide in the community and it must really make it hard to move forward trying to please every different camp. I think we need to worry less about retention and give more attention to what has made the game great for us and how we can make it even better. Feels to me like there is no balance between the two at the moment. I want to make clear that I include myself I what I said, it’s not directed at anyone specific and I do acknowledge I could be wrong.
A few things I’d like the see
Mounts
Craft all button
Delete item button
Proximity chat or various in game chats ( my friend humblenunni desperately want to open a karaoke bar)
A mini robot powered by some kind of fuel and he does chores for you. Fixing machine, farming crops etc.
This is all there is factually. . I cannot find any numbers on sales for PS4. For Steam since ea they have sold between 20,000 and 50,000 copies. I would think it is towards the lower end but that is opinion with no facts. The Steam Charts only show average users per hour, but there was a steady decline since launch until they did the free weekend. We had a bump, but that eroded and right before they launched farming we had fewer average players than the last month in EA. Farming has boosted average players back to May 2019 numbers but not back yet to release or the high we reached on the free weekend. If you look at Boundless Ninja which does include PS4 players they seem to run about 50% of the steam players.
My take away is we are not retaining players for some reason(s). We did not get a permanent bump in players from the free weekend for some reason(s). The game is not slowly growing. The farming has either brought back players, has players playing more or brought in new players. No way to know but I do seem to see more players on planets when I play. So the farming release seems to have been a win for the game.
but feel like I’d need all of the character slots to get all the skills I would need.