What I wanted Boundless to be

General
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I wanted Boundless to be like Minecraft, but HD, with exploration and traveling to many new planets, and an amazing block building system.

I know the goal of the game was to create an MMO, and I guess they succeeded in doing that, but at what cost? Everything in this game is built around grind, and instead of a stream of new content, so much time is spent on balancing the centraforge, footfall, managing the guild system and beacon controls, trolls, and gating fun features like totem portaling behind coin.

I thought, ā€œExo worlds, awesome!ā€ But they cost coin. Which means again, Iā€™m being forced to participate in the economy or build near other people.

(Edit) For everyone mentioning the Minter, I just want to point out itā€™s specifically designed to give you less than the itemā€™s worth, and that doesnā€™t excuse the fact that I cannot see any reason why warping to a new planet even HAS a coin cost, when it could just cost some items. I make a totem, I warp to a new planet, done.

Itā€™s like how it used to cost coin to warp back home. The game has ā€œcostsā€ associated with things that just make the game less fun. So much content feels designed around forcing the economy, itā€™s sad to think how grand the game could be if they never had to worry about upsetting an MMOā€™s economy.

I guess it just makes me sad. I donā€™t know what the vision for Boundless was, but I think if they had instead just allowed people to run their own private multiplayer servers, with mods, and created an amazing HD Minecraft with planet hopping and portals, weā€™d have WAY more content, and theyā€™d have 2x+ the amount of sales they have now.

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ā€œI want.ā€ No two words have caused more harm in the history of oortkind than those two.

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While I do entirely understand where youā€™re coming from and still feel a bit the same (especially about the grind), I would say that it is only now at last with the coin machine that I personally feel warp costs are affordable for me and have actually been happy to spend 3.4k to go to, for instance, Ord Trian more than a couple of times.

I am a solo player for the most part and I do still want private worlds too; But I havenā€™t sold anything since the update and Iā€™m only setting up a shop now (as Iā€™ve been away for some months).

Though, I have bought plenty of things since the coin machine came around; I get nearly no relevant amount of coin from footfall (under 2k in 2 weeks or something?).

And I have made over 100k (Iā€™ve lost count) from the coin machine since its release. Iā€™m not particularly clever and Iā€™m sure many people have made a lot more, but what Iā€™m trying to say is that you can do it too, and itā€™s actually not that much effort, though it can be a bit boring (again, the grind bit I suppose).

You can see this thread if you want to make some coin with the machine, should be helpful: Chrysominter Hot Tips :slight_smile:

Edit: And Iā€™m not trying to invalidate how you feel disappointed about the game. I do genuinely understand that, as you may see based on my posts on for example the ā€œWhat turns you off Boundlessā€ thread.

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Why make exo worlds cost anything at all? I just think everything about this game would have been better as a single player game, or a private server multiplayer game like Minecraft. Because they are forcing the MMO aspect the game has so much bloat itā€™s crazy.

After all these months, Iā€™m utterly surprised they are still developing with the MMO concept in mind.

Thatā€™s really not a useful comment but whatever.

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We can all have our own opinions of course, I respect othersā€™, but as for me, I love Boundless as it is. I do love Minecraft for what it is, kill a lot of time in it - and what is strange is, end up playing it like Boundless. I like to explore and dig endless tunnels and collect and build resourcesā€¦ but the irony being I end up building much more in Boundless than I do in Minecraft! In Boundless, I have much more incentive to stop simply collecting, and actually build and interact with others. And I like the grind - it makes me feel my progress is earned, even though I donā€™t have an ounce of the building skills others here have. Perhaps my building isnā€™t great, but I can serve other functions - BusinessOrtian, portal creator, newbie welcomer. Not only do I find collecting relaxing, but I enjoy the planning and setting of goals it helps motivate.

Stated elsewhere, but Boundless has done something no game has managed in many years of serious gaming - got me to actually PLAY with other people, not just sit off on my own, doing my own thing, which I do even in other MMOs like ESO.

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Thatā€™s fine, but we havenā€™t been told if the small amount of players this game has is even enough to fund development.

My concern is that all the content Iā€™ve wanted this game to get, wonā€™t come because the well dries up because they canā€™t find enough people like you who want to play an MMO like this. In which case, I think they should have cut their losses a long time ago.

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A lot of the grind is lessened by working cooperatively with other players. Working together seems to be a major point of this game. It does make things harder for the solo players that insist on doing everything by themselves, but Iā€™m sure over time thing will happen that will ease a lot of the grind.

As for Minecraft, I donā€™t see myself ever returning to that game. Chisels, grapples, beacons, AOE tools, community hunts/events and the list could go on with the things that I feel set Boundless apart.

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All four of those things donā€™t require Boundless to be an MMOā€¦ Thatā€™s my point. The first 4 things you thought of have never, and will never, need Boundless to be an MMO.

Would be just as easy to put those into a single player game with private server options.

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Limitations are actually magic, because they cause individuals to be much more creative. I feel the experience of Boundless would be cheapened if everything was easier to get. Granted, thereā€™s some aspects that could be abridged some imo, like the vast quantities of items needed for crafting (I would much prefer greater rarity and less need for large amounts of an item).

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Huh?

You donā€™t have to participate in the economy at all, especially with the chrysominter now. You can farm yourself things and throw out items that have no real recipe uses and make thousands of coin.

Fresh clean money that hasnā€™t touched the economy and if you use that coin solely for warping that coin will never even touch the economy. Youā€™ll literally be the only one to create and destroy the same coin.

Now is a better time than any other to be a solo Boundless player or one who avoids the economy.

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Ah yes, itā€™s so solo friendly that it gives you a fraction of the coin itā€™s worth.

If it was actually solo friendly, you could designate your character as a solo character and the minter would output a much higher ratio.

The only people left in Boundless now are the ones who seem to accept it, and I still havenā€™t seen any indication thatā€™s going to be enough to fund development.

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You sound really frustrated by what the game could be but isnā€™t.

Iā€™m sorry that Boundless isnā€™t what you wanted it to be. Are there parts of the game that you enjoy doing, and then maybe by focusing on doing those aspects you can make the coin you need to do what you want?

I donā€™t want that to be a blanket answer to you either. Sometimes we get frustrated that something isnā€™t what we expected that we donā€™t see what things could be.

This is coming from a previous solo-player.

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Iā€™m probably one of the more ā€˜not socialā€™ players here. I go out of my way to not participate with shop stands because the majority of the time I prefer to do things myself or barter for goods. I donā€™t like money in games or life.

That said, there are items that have literally no value in game right now because they have no recipes. Theyā€™re also side drops that you fill your inventory with as trash while youā€™re farming for specific items.

Literally as you clear your inventory you can make money.

I have to say some of your posts I agree fully with but this is one weā€™re it seems like youā€™re just wanting to make an issue to make an issue.

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got a location for a farm yet check out the aquatopian farm initiative we can use good soldiers :sunglasses:

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I have zero confidence at this point in the development of this game and unless its said the current playerbase can actively sustain development I think encouraging the developers to cut their losses is the morally right thing to do.

Iā€™m a realist. I get the only people who remain love the game so its hard to read posts like this but how anyone could recommend this game at this point is beyond me.

I wonā€™t push the issue but it had been a while since I posted and figured Iā€™d let my voice be heard.

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development off this game the way you want it

im one off the people that love it and see so much potential i would tell the devā€™s to go broke take risks make great game not always take the easy route

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I came here for am MMORPG style sandbox. Persistent/shared worlds where I could build things.

Iā€™ve never played minecraft before, or any voxel building game, this is my first. Of the several games I checked out Boundless looked good, had most of the features I wanted, and offered a way to impact a shared persistent world like nothing else Iā€™ve seen.

Also it was Brand New (omg sooo wrooooong) !

Anyways as an MMORPG boundless shows itā€™s age, meaning itā€™s pretty fresh really and obviously still growing. I spent nearly 6 weeks just learning to build and then understand the economic drives of the game. Boundless offers uniqueness here as well with the request basket thing going on. And (until this week) no steady PVE coin generation. Itā€™s been pretty different.

I find it pretty vanilla/simple in terms of MMO complexity and grind. I understand there is an atypical thing going on here, with the PS4 players and voxel builders being used to a different sort of atmosphere. But Iā€™m still frequently surprised when people comment on the complexity or difficulty of the game.

Complaining about a grind is just the neverending fodder of the MMORPG world - if some people donā€™t understand why maybe their complaints donā€™t seem to be taken seriously. Boundless is clearly balanced to time limited players.

I think of the game design as schizophrenic in a couple of ways. Itā€™s clear that itā€™s not what was originally conceived, and Iā€™m sort of glad. A hardcore survival game thatā€™s difficult AF with no inventory and no possible way to support yourself through the game is not something I think should have ever been called ā€œBoundlessā€.

Request baskets and footfall are two very interesting social experiments. Together, itā€™s a recipe for poison. I think there needs to be more clarity surrounding footfall, and wonā€™t miss a chance to say request baskets should be deleted from the game. The economy here is endlessly stabbing itself in the back.

And in all the discussion about and focus on footfall, Iā€™m not going to drag up this quote today but where everyone treats it as the only, desperately needed source of coin, James has been quite explicit that this is not the developersā€™ focus and people should be looking at another feature if they want to request balancing for a steady stream of income. Weā€™ll see how much of this is addressed by the chrysominter, I guess.

i do like how the chrysominter is set up to stimulate certain markets or activities overall and appreciate this much more than the ā€œtrash canā€ I was expecting - a simple item sink for bulk waste.

I suppose I have a long list of thoughts and analysis regarding Minecraft Creative trying to meet up with a survival/sandbox MMO. Iā€™m not really down on these guys, the more I pay attention the more I see what a juggling act it is that theyā€™re trying to bring together.

Iā€™ll probably be buying another 6 months of gleam club here in a couple of weeks. I think itā€™s important to remember that if thereā€™s not something to strive for, be through time or level or equipment or consumable ā€œgatingā€ then thereā€™s not a lot of reason for it to be a ā€œsandbox MMOā€ at all. I have no idea how to balance that in with people who want access to everything and ā€œend gameā€ activities after 40 - 60 hours of gameplay.

I really donā€™t understand how ā€œrefusing to participateā€ in the economy came to be some sort of badge of honor or something, though. :man_shrugging: It seems the concept from the beginning was hard core, forced cooperative play. Partial concessions to solo play seem to be at the root of a lot of the ā€œnot quite happyā€ sentiment I see.

I guess while in the end I wouldnā€™t have put in the time i have if I couldnā€™t EVENTUALLY do it all, I have failed to see the negativity in interacting with others to achieve my goals more quickly, and easily. Even though Iā€™m borderline antisocial both IRL and, typically, online.

As someone who is apparently after something totally different from the OP this post got a little deep maybe but I have to agree (itā€™s why Iā€™m posting) that thereā€™s just something missing that seems to keep a lot of people both interested and frustrated with the game. The hardest thing has got to be that itā€™s different parts, for different people.

Unless there is a ā€œcreative modeā€ associated with some class of private world, Iā€™m not sure itā€™s going to address anything but some plotting disputes tbh.

So sorry this may be sort of a ramble but youā€™ve inspired me to it :slight_smile:

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Iā€™m under no delusion what the reality could be down the road. Iā€™ve made plenty of posts to that nature.

I have no control over what the team does. I do know I like the chrysominter and I like exos and Iā€™m stoked about farming.

Boundless could shut itā€™s doots in a years time and Iā€™ll still be glad I chose to spend my entertainment time on it over a different game or cable.

Thereā€™s a lot I want to be added to the game or out of Boundless in general but Iā€™m also a realist and get that itā€™s a smaller team doing the best they can with what they got. Communication could be better on their end I think but overall I think even thatā€™s becoming a bit better.

Edit to say like Night, I had never really sat down and played a voxel game before either. This is my first one.

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None of this means theyā€™d have two times or more the amount of sales. Doesnā€™t mean more people would buy it and then continue playing after the initial purchase either.

I think the devs are attempting to provide players with enough tools to circumvent parts of the game they donā€™t want to have to deal with. Honestly for me, itā€™s the grind to gather up all the materials I need to craft everything myself. In fact, the Chrysominter is the number one reason Iā€™ve been getting back into the game because Iā€™ve found ways to manipulate it and rack in tons of money.

Could things have been taken in a different direction? Yes. Of course, and I would have loved if they focused on other things that would have given the game a better foundation to add layers of game features and content onto. But they didnā€™t and itā€™s something all of us have to live with.

What I have noticed though is the moment I stopped trying to do everything solo and actually join a guild. Things got a lot more fun and easier. The game is very much designed for cooperative play. Itā€™s what makes a MMO a MMO in many respects.

From the very early moments of the gameā€™s conception back when it was originally called Oort Online, I envisioned worlds where players have massive sprawling cities. When I saw that there was going to be portals it made me really excited that weā€™d be able to have cross world economy and pvp (still yet to be realized in some form) and even various forms of pve, such as the Titans that are promised.

The vision and scope of Boundless is pretty massive and probably a lot of the frustration many players have, including myself, are self-inflicted. We come up with a plethora and multitude more ideas than the developers could ever hope to bring to the game by themselves. Itā€™s why they ask for feedback on stuff they have implemented and are combing the forums for ideas on what else to bring to the game.

I am sure @james has a list of game features some where that keeps growing faster than they can release things to us. Some stuff does make sense to release before others and playing a game thatā€™s in constant development, like all MMOs are, it takes a lot of patience.

I would say the thing that upsets me more than anything that the developers do is nerf things that donā€™t need to be nerfed and IMO that attention, time, and resources could have been better spent on something else, like content, and deliver the balance changes in small amounts over time to see how the small changes work rather than making radical ones all at once.

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When I bought this game I had no idea it was an MMO. My first interaction with another person was being griefed for building too close to someones settlement. I thought it was soemthing the devs made and I wasn;t even going to stay there. I just needed a small shelter form the overly aggressive mobs. The MMO aspect of this game is a turn off for me. I have real MMOs that I play and they are way better than this in that aspect. This is a poor MMO but a great game for building and killing time at your own leisure. I would prefer a personal offline version myself over this one. Only because people are usually pretty terrible at being people.