Infinite Progression Concept

[Jasc]

I want to get some feedback on what server owners/players think about this concept.

First and foremost, I am a huge fan of pre-renewal servers without 3rd jobs. 99/70 trans class. I like the balance of 99/70, official item scripts, and pre-renewal formulas.

What is there left to play for in pre-re RO?

1. PVP
2. WoE, WoE 2.0
3. Battlegrounds
4. Questing/Party Instances
5. MVPing

What a 99/70 server lacks is progression and a way to become better. Let's say I have hit 99/70 and have 2 MVP cards. I'll get into PVP, WoE, Battlegrounds, but I've already lost the feeling of progression and getting stronger. Players quit when there is nothing left to do, when they have maxed out.


The concept I am bringing up is infinite progression via an "essence system".

What this system is, when a player reaches 99/70, they can further progress their character via passive bonuses.

Essence can be obtained via:
1. PVP Points
2. WoE
3. Battlegrounds
4. Killing MVPs
5. Completing daily quests etc

Each character will have their own essence power that will be calculated into a formula.


example:
A formula with diminishing returns as you go higher

bonus batk,essence/variable;
bonus bmatk,essence/variable;
bonus bmaxhp,essence/variable;

These are just examples of some bonuses that could be added to a character, more can be added etc. This allows for a character to become stronger as you play it more.

 

What does everyone think of this? It provides a longer end-game
 

[Euphy]

Where do you cap the bonuses, then? You can't realistically have infinite bonuses, and once they start to taper, you run into the same problem. The bonuses might also discourage new players from joining if they get out of hand.

[Jasc]

It never caps, the returns just diminishes the higher you go, for example upgrading from essence 10-11 has a greater benefit than 100-101. Everything has risk, you are risking the the fact that new players will be discouraged cause others have an advantage. The other risk is that all older players have already quit because theres not enough end-game for them, and then new players won't even join cause you have such a low population.

Edited August 12, 2013 by Jasc

[Shade]

The longer you run the server, the harder it is for new players to catch up. They will be inferior compared to old players. It is true about risk and what you have to sacrifice, but doesn't mean there's no way you can help the newbies. What you can do is making a cap that increases as time goes by for example every month.

Old players would still be able to farm but you're not making it impossible for the new players to catch up with them.

 

The idea is good to keep a server alive but with balance, you can achieve much more. I have my own ideas on keeping a server alive and it is similar to yours. Perhaps once I complete my server I'd be able to test out how well it works.

 

Another way to make players stay is to add in new features such as maps, quest, tournaments and etc, keeping the server active and lively.

 

Back to the topic, good modification, definitely one of many ways to keep a server alive but in my opinion needs a limit. There are casual players and hardcore players, old and new. When you're making a major modification, if is important to see it on different perspective.