What turns you off playing Boundless?

Devlog
427

“I wish this whole issue was a problem with the game, but it’s not. It’s a problem with us as people.” – Sharky

This is so completely true. And frankly, I think the estimate that only 1 in 100 people will be griefers is grotesquely optimistic. We can adopt all the 'what is acceptable behavior" norms that we want as a community, but unless they are somehow enforced through game mechanics, they will be ignored – sometimes out of ignorance (not everyone reads the forums, or reads English), but just as often out of the sheer malicious glee they take in ruining someone else’s day.

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428

Coal generates smoke and also is way to expensive to look nice

Like a graphical / particle effect? If so, it’s not showing for me. I’ve used hundreds of compact coal of all three types and was planning to use more… but will have to remove if they’re generating smoke.

429

i have everything maxed out sooo XD

430

I think he means that it is used as fuel not that it creates smoke particles.

And to stick to the topic…
Weather is still #1 for me. When it starts to rain or especially snow, i put down the mouse and go do something else.

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431

Due to performance issues?

432

I like snow.
And acid rain on Nash. Performance goes down but I can do some stuff. If it gets too dangerous (fighting or moving near lava) I temporarily lower details and turn off per pixel light.

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433

Yep and also because it makes me dizzy trying to focus on the block im trying to break whether or not its metamorphic or igneous or if theres sand/gravel beside it (i use diamond a lot and value efficiency)
Just not worth the headache (literally) or having to turn off and on per pixel lighting. (It makes the biggest difference in beauty and performance)
I also have all the other graphic options lowered or completely off.
This has all been since the meteor update. I used to have everything maxed.

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434

I have a whole 'nother post about good things as well, but I wanted to make sure these were captured in the ‘why people stop’ thread.

Things I Disliked

  • #1 - the fact my character will never improve, no matter how hard/much I work. I’m staring at sooooo many skills that I still want, but are so crazy expensive that it’s ridiculous (warp distance increase, shout, many others). If I could continue to slowly earn skill points, it would be one thing. But just learning to use chisels properly and craft all the recipes ate a ridiculously huge % of my available points, for instance. If you’re looking for pain points that cause people to quit games, lack of character progression is a big one. The number of new plots you earn right now, relative to building sizes, isn’t much of an incentive.

  • The fact that you can’t keep your settlement from being absorbed against your will is the #2 complaint. This is a griefer’s dream setup – the fact that most of the EA players are cool and avoid this means nothing. If the game mechanics allow it, some jerks will make it their sole mission in game to absorb unwilling victims.

  • Having to spend plots on floating bits of foilage is also a pain. A good 5% of my plots are there solely to deal with floating foilage after I’ve destroyed the actual tree trunk. IMO, trees in reserved wild plots should not regen once the base is destroyed and plotted.

  • Once there are more planets, I think there needs to be a way to use your plot count multiple times. Maybe every 10-20 relevels after 50 unlocks an additional planet slot where you can use your entire plot count again.

  • There’s too much lava both above and underground. Not every outer world needs to be crisscrossed with lava lakes.

  • Too much verticality in the worlds. Running around for hunts is pretty much nothing but scaling cliffs, then immediately climbing/falling/jumping down, interspersed with having to jump over or bridge over lava.

  • I miss meteors on starting worlds. There was a huge feeling of accomplishment the first time I soloed a meteor on Solum, it’s sad that people won’t get that. I do, however, feel that there needs to be some sort of mob leashing (or just don’t spawn Cuttletrunks) on the starter worlds. A flying mob chasing a low-level player across the whole planet is a bit unfair IMO.

  • I think coal plays too much of a part in everything (as one player put it, “Coal is life”). Spark costs are too high for decorative rock, for instance.

  • It would be nice if there were more interesting things to discover while caving – abandoned temples like on Munteen surface, for instance.

  • I know lack of mined gems right now is a bug, but it’s an annoying one.

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435

Well, where to start?

I love this game, and I love the CONCEPT of it. There are a few things about the execution that have me reeling in madness and frustration.

The first and foremost thing is respeccing: Waiting a week to alter your skill points when you have no working concept of the skills as a whole is something that should probably be looked at. I have played this game mainly alone, because I don’t like to be a “noob” and fed. The idea that someone will throw me a titanium anything because I’m a scrub just kills the game for me, as a whole. This comes with it’s down sides for solo players, and me, in particular. I just recently signed into the forums, but discovery is something that appeals to me. With that, I don’t have any mentor or person who is telling me which skills are absolutely mandatory for exploration: things like health regen, jumps and ledge grab to name a few. Without those, I’ve learned, the game becomes … well… exponentially more difficult. But, as a solo player, you still need to do a “jack of all trades” build, making sure that you can craft and advance. Taking motility sometimes destroys your build, because you sacrifice basic stats or these patterns. Level advancement, doesn’t make much of a difference, because you could be a level XX character and make mistakes on your build, then have to wait a week before you actually feel the effects.

Being an alpha / early access build I don’t think that there is much reason to get upset about this balance issue, because everything could change, however, it contributes to the other issues.

So, in the spirit of a snowball, here’s the other issues that come up when you can’t respec:

-Destruction of Tools
<== This is probably the most influentially terrible effect. If you’re a solo player, you can practically account for every piece of iron, gold or whatever other basic resource that you consume in your efforts to advance. So, when you forget to put points in health, armor, or other basic defense, and get stuck in a situation out in the open, near lava, or some other dangerous situation, your smart stacks are rendered stupid by the -25% wear that you incur. It could be completely gamebreaking if you die multiple times in quick succession. Suddenly that Diamond hammer that you struggled for becomes a useless mound of dust with no method of recovery.

-No "Home Advantage"
There’s no benefit to having a claimed plot aside from protecting what you built and presumably preventing others from messing with it. You don’t have any sort of breakage bonus, or anything that would help you continue to build even in your own claimed areas. Your tools still incur breakage. The world still determines the block health. It isn’t easier to get your own build built and you still are held at the mercy of your skills.

-Alts Don’t Cut it
So, lets say that you’re getting frustrated by the points mentioned above, and you decide, that, since you already don’t have skills, it doesn’t make a difference if you’re on a level 1. Well, simply, your alts don’t really get or give any sort of advantage unless you have built an elaborate portal network prior to respeccing. Playing on a level 1 alt is not satisfying at all, when you have already struggled on your main for hours. There isn’t any difference in the characters, apart from their skill choices, and even then, the grind is real. If you have to grind for 80+ hours to get your main leveled, then leveling an alt is almost out of the question. Now, don’t get me wrong in this, because I have played grindfest games and enjoyed them. It is simply that the specialization and diversification between characters is almost non existent, because you need those skills mentioned before just to survive.

-Gating Redundancies
Hating that I’m actually having to write this down, the time gates are completely ridiculous. I understand that build times are something that most game models are down for, because it has the whole psychological advantage of feeding addiction, and creating a demand for ‘purchasable’ options (time boosts and speed ups, or instant completes with “crystals”) all of these things are sadly accepted by the gaming world because of the hegemony that has been in place since casual / mobile gaming. But, remember EA and microtransactions? Just saying that this opens a horrible, terrible door. I am an oldschool gamer and believe that you should be able to earn everything that is available in a game that you spend money on, in advance. So, not only do you have the time gates, but also the resource and material gates. There are some patterns that are made just for the sake of having patterns, and that is something that distracts from the enjoyment of the game. Not to mention that the prospect of having to pay for respecs with real currency, it could potentially destroy everything.

I’ll leave this at that point, but there are still more complicated issues that have come up in my playtime. I am still playing this game, and will still play it, but things like this can possibly be isolated in my experiences.

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436

There were several instances where devs strongly opposed such implementations so no worries in that department. You don’t have to assume that it is related to microtransactions.

What is the opposite situation? Not having time gate, not having material gate, not having skill gate, everyone playing god mode?

I actually enjoy when I collect thousands of peat soil and fire up 20 compactors to get 1000 compact peat, it only takes 25 mins to get that amount on high scale :slight_smile:

437

We were going so well, but I really lost you at the micro transaction. I can’t agree with all your points, but they were made with logic.

I really wish to understand where you got the micro transactions from. For the year I’ve been, the devs have shown desinterest to earn their share by going that direction. If anything I believe new customers and players playing private servers will be the things that keep them feed.

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438

It seems pretty straight forward to me. From his post, I gathered that as far as Chivlet is concerned, the time gating offers no real benefit to the game (when it’s considered that we already have the resource gate and skill gates). That being the case, a time gate isn’t there for any particualar benefit, and an unnecessary time gate = opportunity to introduce micro-transaction, if desired.

Even if you discount that as reasonable logic, maybe he did a search of the forums and found (however old), this thread - Art: Mystery Box concept? Whether that’s the current thinking or not, it certainly shows at the very least willing to consider the direction.

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439

I for sure didn’t know off the thread, but the thread mentions wearables, no time accelerators or anything beneficial of the sort.

I’m not discounting his logic about there being gates for resources, materials or time. While I don’t agree with his points on those, there’s a certain logic behind it. What I don’t find reasonable is jumping to conclusions too quickly and calling out something that is not happening or that’s been confirmed.

Just to be clear, everytime microtransactions come into topic, most of the community expresses their disagreement with the tactic of advancing faster due to it, and are willing to pay real money only for wearables, that really offer no difference other than the outer appearance of your character.

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440

I don’t mean that gating is a bad thing, under circumstances relative to progression, they are actually amazing. Rewarding the players are their experiences, making the whole time spent have value. When I am talking about gating, in this instance, has more to do with the concept of several independent variables set around the original ‘skills’ issue. If there is something that limited, but beyond normal control like time, then there are options made available to speed it up. If the skill points had an option, even, to reduce the length of time it took to craft, that still wouldn’t be enough for today’s gamer. The gate on production is unnecessarily implemented for the higher tier of gear. This becomes a problem for people who have limited time, and still want to take the full breadth of enjoyment in this universe. So, a demand is created. Eventually people will ask, and ultimately beg for a purchasable option to circumvent this. It is a small, frayed thread that could lead to the unraveling of this great and complex tapestry of a game, and it is borne from the concepts that I have detailed previously.

The opposite solution, doesn’t include the complete removal of the gate, just altering the contributing factors that narrow it. I suggest something along the lines of crafted consumables, respec potions or something similar.

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441

I didn’t actually see that post. And that is scary, just proposing loot boxes hints at something that troubles me deeply.

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442

The only thing id say turns me off is the seemingly slow framerate, though I know this is pre alpha, so its not biggy because it will improve :smiley:

443

Thanks for clarifying. One thing though: machines work even when you log out. So even if you can’t wait for hours you can queue up stuff tbd while you’re doing something else outside the game. I do agree with you that it is the inconvenience for players with little time to dedicate, but still not a major obstacle, at least in my opinion.

Devs are so dedicated to striking the right balance that it seems pretty unlikely they will choose to destroy it one day with p2w.

444

Incoming long post…

So, this is what is currently killing the game for me…well besides being unable to leave the sanctum because my game is crashing.

  1. The Workbench - The UI for that machine is utter garbage. You’ve crammed to many recipes into it, and it’s just cluttered. I’d like to see the number of machines expand. Some machine suggestions would be.

An Armory - For Weapons and Armor. I would also to see armor, climbing boots, a miner’s helmet, scuba gear, and capes added to the game.

A Kiln - I want charcoal added to the game. A suggestion for a charcoal recipe would be sawdust from running wood through an extractor, mixed with tallow and sap. Cause, I’ve got too much of both the tallow and sap, and nothing to use them beyond glue. The kiln could also be used to fire the painted bricks that I’ll mention in the next group.

An Engraver - A machine for the decorative type blocks. Also, if your not going to melt ice with light sources. A decorative and refine type of ice block would be lovely.

Block Painter or additional mixer recipe or Pigment Generator - Will explain in the next group…

It would also be nice if the machines were upgrade-able. The higher teir machines being able to carry out crafts in a more timely manner, cause honestly… when people are building houses, and statues, and roads out of compact metal because there is nothing else to use them on… that’s just bad.

  1. Limited color pallet of blocks - You have no idea how bad it bugs my ocd, when I’ve got blocks that look exactly the same, but won’t smart stack together. If your not going to give the planets individual color pallets for their blocks, but still insist on not allowing them to stack together, then please in the block flavor text, could you include what planet that block was harvested from? I would also love the ability to paint blocks. A simple solution would be introducing a green colored block/plant and a blue colored block/plant into the game, to go along with the red colored block/plant that we get from Vulpto. After that, you give us the ability to run those block/plant through the extractor to get pigments. Which we then run those pigments through a pigment generator to get paints. Which we then run those blocks and paints through a mixer to get their colored variants. This could also be used to dye gleam, so that you guys can finally unleash to full spectrum of gleam. Rather, than only handing it out to a select few. Cause with all due respect…that pisses me off and you guys can eat a ■■■■. Unless they won a completion that I don’t know about, or paid extra to get it. I want access to those colors. I don’t care if you have to set up a shop in Aquatopia and sell them for like 5 coin a pop. I want them. Since I’m raging… I would also like Boundless fixed so I can get back in and restock my shop.

  2. Water and Lava Buckets!!! I also want these. You have the answer. Make them only usable in a beaconed areas, and have the water/lava solidly at the beacons edge. It’s not realistic but lets be honest. You have selective gravity, sand that doesn’t fall and squids that can fly, so it’s not outta place for water and lava to spontaneously solidify. Now implement them…cause Aquatopia needs more waterfalls and fountains.

  3. Spark and Heat costs - I’m going to level with you on this one. I don’t harvest coal at all. It takes too long to get a sizable quantity of coal, and too long to compact that coal. So, I raid the compact peat on Nasharil and Munteen VII, and it’s stupid that I get more use out of compact dirt than I’ve ever got from coal. No advancement in technology beyond agriculture (and is that even a technology) was ever fueled by dirt. I would also like those structures to be added to Alturnik and Vulpto… cause I need more dirt. Another cool thing would be solar panels. They would fit lovely in the Aquatopia Corporate area that I’m building. I’m not saying that they should generate all the spark that I’d ever need, but it would be nice could generate a 10-20% reduction on spark cost. Also, farming would be kinda nice.

  4. Spark Powered Tools and Chisels - We have enough elements of technology in the game that it’s pretty much inexcusable at this point for there not to be a battery of some type. I would love spark powered tools that would allow me to click a button to open up a GUI, and then be able to select the hammers/axe break pattern or exactly what block type the chisel cuts with a single click. Obviously, with the chisel the more complex the cut the more of a drain each cut puts on the battery. Cause the current system for chiseling has me whaling away at blocks like a caveman… and it’s just bad. It’s also kinda upsetting that it takes 3-5 hits to break a single blocks even with max tool mastery and strength. What is the reason for that? Because of that I use macros on my mouse. I’ve got one that swings my right tool, and then one that swings both my right tool and my left tool. It’s probably not good on the server that it’s receiving that many button inputs from me, but I’m not gonna sit here clicking my mouse over and over to break a single block. I’m lazy, and I have technology that makes life easier.

  5. Block Rotater thing - Either give me an item that rotates the orientation of the blocks after it’s been placed, or give me a skill that enables me to lock what orientation I place the block in. I don’t care which, but I’m sick of having to build sand platforms to get all the blocks to line up right. It’s a waste of time and tools.

  6. Upgraded spanners - Simple device that I can slot into a machine and walk away. I have 12 of each machine in my house, because it’s easier to spread the load over multiple machines rather than fully load up one. However, it’s super annoying to come home or log on and see that my machines have died. This would fix that.

  7. Skill Tree - I’m going to say it. I don’t like anything about the current leveling aspect. Not being able to max level is a super downer, but also basic skills like sneaking, sprinting, the compass, and placing blocks requiring skill points is just dumb. My favorite leveling system that I’ve seen in a video game will always be Runescape. Being able to level up every skill, and getting some type of reward for reaching max level was just great, and it gave people a reason to sink their 10000th hour into the game. I first picked up Boundless back in July of 2017, and within our first 100 hours. My group of 5 players had a settlement that was ranked 6 of Solum, and we really weren’t even trying. We just kinda half ass threw things together because we were not really bored of minecraft, but the modded community kinda fell apart after the 1.8 update and things hadn’t fully recovered. I could only imagine how big our settlement would be if we had kept playing, but… we didn’t. We lost interest because there was nothing left for us to do. I also don’t like having to go through the grind of leveling up alts. I got one to lvl 17, and said screw it. I consider that a punishment for wanting to enjoy ever aspect this game has to offer, and it’s just bad. It also punishes those that want to play the isolationist play-style.

  8. The Compass - I want distance to waypoint and my current xyz coordinates fully visable at all times. I’m used to playing Minecraft with JourneyMap installed and not having access to that information is just annoying. I look around like… where the hell am I and I don’t like it.

11 Beacons - Final point and then I’m done. Beacons last way to long in my opinion. I would max them out at two weeks. If it’s too hard for you to gather up 10-20 leaves and put them in your beacon once every two weeks. Why are you playing this game? I could understand that ■■■■ happens, and maybe your about to lose your internet, or have a trip coming up, but in that case. You should be able to flag down a dev and have a freeze for up to maybe a month put on your beacon. Any longer than that, and it’s just too much. According to The-Moebius, I am the lead architect for Aquatopia Corporate, and I’ve got that section of Aquatopia graphed out to the block. I can load pictures to prove it. It’s perfectly lined up with Boundless’s plotting system, and is modular so that it can expand indefinitely…if I had enough plots. I have mathed and scienced the ■■■■ outta this project. However, there are two beacons. Probably placed by one day players that quit the game, and I have no idea how long I have to wait to get access to those areas, or any idea if those players are even still playing and I’m not happy about that. I should be able to interact with a persons beacon to see how long they’ve been afk, and how long that beacon is lasting, and if they’ve been afk for over two weeks. I should then be able to contact a dev to have those spots freed up. One of those spots is an island that would make a nice spot for a giant megalithic structure, and the other was going to be a spot for either a park, amphitheater, but instead… when i get back to boundless I kinda want to make a massive arrow structure that points at both of those beacons with a sign that says tribute to poverty. Cause, it’s a corporate area and corporations are evil man…

  1. Forced Regeneration - Okay, I lied but this came to mind. While carving out the roads for Aquatopia Corporate, we decided to slide them a plot forward leaving massive holes cut out of the surrounding hills. I’ve unplotted those areas, but because it’s in a super active area it’s unlikely that they’ll regenerate on their own. I would like the ability to summon someone, and then that person be able to trigger the regeneration. Cause, I’ve been waiting on that to regenerate for awhile now, and it hasn’t happened yet.

Okay,long post over. Imma go to bed…

6 Likes
445

Great Idea, this would also add some usefulness to the axe mastery skill (that atm no one is skilling afaik)

446

I agree with pretty much everything you have suggested except for the beacons … if I decide that I would like to take a break from the game then I think the current system is fair in that it lets me do that without worrying about it. If its changed to just two weeks then it’s easy to forget and end up losing everything which for me would probably mean not bothering to play again rather than just having a break from it. It would be good if there was someway of contacting a player whose beacon is just sitting there for weeks on end to see if they are still intending to use it but other than that it’s just one of those things that life puts in our way every now and then.

There is always going to be some sort of conflict with regards to plots and expansion. Nobody seems too bothered about the individual who doesn’t want to be swallowed up by someone else’s build so perhaps it’s only fitting that the individual has some small way of causing consternation to those that want to walk all over them for there own glory. If the plot was there before you started expanding then perhaps your build and being consumed by you is what stopped them from building on that site any further. If they placed the plot close to your city and then just left it then perhaps it would of been wiser to lay out the footprint of your build beforehand to prevent any random plots being taken that you had hoped to claim. As an individual player my getaway home is always in danger of being consumed by someone else’s build that’s going for the prestige, It’s one of the major elements that I hate about this game but it’s one that I have had to come to accept and live with. In fact it’s actually put me off from building up any prestige on my home build because I know that all i’m doing is adding to the prestige of someone else’s name. I do have other builds that I CHOSE to be part of and therefore would gladly contribute but not when it’s imposed on me… but other than that, all great points :slightly_smiling_face: