Shattered Kingdoms

Class tweaks were asked to be withheld because they would only benefit at most 15% of the playerbase at any one time.

Just what percentage of the playerbase would be expected to use a facebook client on a phone?

Being cynical for a moment, all it suggests to me is that hardcore players will have to deal with more spontaneously AFK deadweight in-game, and hipster roleplayers will have to suffer through more dialog that sounds like it was typed on a phone with autocorrect.

I just cannot see how this got the only direct and immediate approval out of all the ideas people clamored for in this thread, some of which have been clamored over for years.

Is there something new about facebook that I'm not aware of? Has the typical facebook user changed in the past few years?

Personally, I think having the ability to spend loyalty tokens on a living character would be amazing. Let's say you can get any spell you want with any class or race (besides ones that would go against alignment), but there would be a heavy price. Start with 10 tokens for simple spells and all the way up to 120 tokens for things like final strike/voodoo/charm person/ ect.
I believe this would add an extreme element of surprise and uncertainty in the game. This would also assist in character longevity I think. It would not help bring new people in.

I think having a GLOBAL mentor command to assist complete newbs would be awesome. The problem nowadays is not a lot of people around to help and the chances are the new player will not be in a kingdom with someone. So yes, I believe the problem of new players not interacting with anyone NEEDS to be solved. It is huge in my opinion, this game has a tight learning curve.

Dex

I wouldn't necessarily mind spending loyalty tokens to raise a skill to master. How much it would cost and how. No idea, just thought of it.

I personally would like all resists (MR and elemental except for the warlock) be similar to resists for races. More, yes but never 100%. Should be at most capped at 50%.

The only real problem with a currency like loyalty tokens is that unless the tokens keep coming in, it's a short-term and high-maintenance approach to retention that only gets less powerful as more ways to run out of tokens present themselves.

If you've spent all your tokens and haven't played SK in 6 months, there should be something to offset the opportunity cost of playing again when so many other choices offer faster startup and engrossing gameplay than we experience in SK. That system should operate based on a player's previous accomplishments rather than the windfall of being in the right place at the right time doing the right thing to get a loyalty token. We're trying to make porridge out of sprinkles with all this loyalty token talk, in my opinion.

The grind, the loneliness in particular, and the meaninglessness of most group leveling excursions, sucks the soul out and time out of a player who may not have much of either to invest. SK should somehow consider how to become a more casual game if it wants to become a more played one. You can't really have your cake of being a niche game and the eating it of big audiences, too, without a whole lot of overhead. Look at what happened to Tribes.

Being able to create characters at master level once you've GMed or done *something* in-game would alleviate the hurdles faced by many people who decide not to play and would provide the golden carrot to seduce those who have not yet decided to play.

How *did* you feel about New Game+, Dulrik? I don't know if that was on your list, either.

Grep: Maybe I missed something.. what is new game+? Or are you simply suggesting to revamp the way the entire game is played?

To touch on the CRS topic that Trag mentioned. I don't think it should have the affect he mentioned, however, I don't think any cabal should have the ability to hold another cabal's abilities hostage for more than a week or two at the most. If the time limit has been surpassed, then a cabal's funds should be docked by 20-30 black, returning their relic. If there are no funds to dock, it will just put the balance in a hole in which the cabal would have to crawl out of. Price is subject to change, depending on how often each relic is taken, so that its lower each time. A cool down timer would be the only thing the would bring the ransom back to the original amount. What do you think? Still offers something similar to what we have now with a catch that I think is acceptable.

AoN: Look, if you're going to nerf it, there needs to be something in its place. I agree that it seems over powered, but when the individual playing the character can't have any buffs whatsoever, it doesn't sound as bad to me. How about removing the fatigues from haste and giant strength? That seems to be the real issue here, as it puts the other player in a slightly worse position. Without the fatigue, it would put them both in the same position as far as buffs are concerned. Also, AoN does not remove all buffs right off the bat. It only removes 3-4 at a time typically. If there is a change to AoN, there needs to be more consideration to both sides of the coin, not just one. In regards to the powerful weapons you spoke of, I can understand the point of what you speak. Perhaps that coupled with no haste/giant strength fatigue would help balance the mechanics you're talking about.

Multi-classing: To be honest, if SK did something like this, they might as well be dedicated to making some huge changes for the entire game to fit around it. I believe that is the main reason Dulrik said NO to this idea. It is a huge undertaking.

The general premise I have behind it is that if you can demonstrate that you have the time and skill to GM a character, you shouldn't have to be asked to work as hard to do so again. The idea of achievement-based new bonuses adds replay value.

Using the e-mail and verification code in place for getting your loyalty tokens, you would be able to have your character start at master status instead of amateur status if you've been able to GM a character with your e-mail address before.

Most everyone I know that doesn't get really into SK cites how much time it takes to have access to a complete character. It seems like it would be exactly what Dulrik is asking for if there was a way to bypass a grind after proving you can do it.

So maybe the answer to your second question is yes, it would be a revamp to the way the entire way the game is played: it would be played ... more often.

Ahh, I suppose I do recall this. I wouldn't call it a revamp, but it IS a good idea, though I don't think the grind is that bad until later on anyway. You do have a point though, it would be a very shiny objective to keep new players interested as it allows them the ability to quickly explore class/race options. Perhaps this should be required for each class combinations to keep us honest? I know there is a vast difference between leveling with a sorcerer and leveling with a barbarian.... not to mention light vs dark, as you have to learn completely different areas. (I realize my tweak puts a bit of a damper on the idea, but it goes along with the earn it remark you made. )

Maxman is right in saying it is too much work. But the other factor is that I played both multi-class and single-class MUDs before creating SK and I simply believe that a single-class system makes for a better game. It's another founding principal of SK.


Not really, since it will only lead to a mostly off-topic argument.


I lumped several suggestions into that general category, not just your post.


I'm probably just blanking, but I actually have no idea which "other" game you are talking about. Feel free to PM me the name.


SURE means that I already basically agree with the idea and it's just a matter of time. Since I only used a single YES (and have retroactively made a change to the list that watered that line down), it's almost as strong an endorsement as you can get.

Sad day. Why not?

I have retroactively updated my list to break Facebook and Mobile into two categories. It is now:

Facebook - YES
Mobile - SURE

On the one hand, MUDs are an inherently desktop based experience. Mobile technology still seems unsuited to trying to play a text based game. Give voice recognition a few more years and things might turn around again.

So in that respect, a Facebook game would be a better fit. And yes, the initial idea would not be to change the game at all, it would just be to package the game in a way that someone who understands the Facebook App paradigm would be inducted seamlessly into the game (even though they don't have a clue about the history of 'telnet', terminals or specialized MUD clients). I strongly believe this would be the most powerful thing that could be done in the short term to grow the player base.

But Facebook itself has already been taking heat for the last few years about how it is going to continue to grow its business when everyone is abandoning desktops. Add onto that the fact that I'm actually a mobile developer and have to learn FB programming from scratch, and you can see that my natural inclination doesn't line up with the FB path. Yet that's what the game needs right now.