New Estate System

[fodder]

Gaining a region or two will not change your acceptable tax rate by 5%. Not by any means. If you had to drop your taxes by 5%, then something else caused. Probably a combination of effects. But it was not all from gaining a region or 2.

i think it's more a case of you having to drop it by 5% or more and then raise it back 4 or whatever % slowly, as simply dropping it 1% won't stop the anger.

[Lorgan]

As I said, it went hand in hand with 150-200% less estate coverage on both production and authority. And Iato's secession might also have had something to do with it, it was definitely around that time and it takes a while before you can figure out a changed tolerance level. Another factor may be that I was running the taxes at the absolute maximum and any change in circumstances (like too high morale drops too close to eachother) already required a decrease in taxes even without anything out of the ordinary happening.

Pushing it higher now is manageable concerning morale, but it's not worth it as production drops too fast resulting in less income anyway.

[Tom]

Isn't that exactly the problem that we tried to fix with the new system?

No. I will say this again: If your realm can not attract 2 players per region, then either it has overexpanded or it sucks. I do not want realms with few players control large areas of land. If you consider it a "problem" that 5 players can't rule 20 regions, you're playing the wrong game.

[Tom]

Heh..that statement implies about half the realms on Atamara should give up some regions.

If it is that bad, I'll shut down an island or two. BM is a multiplayer game and we may have made a mistake spreading a dwindling player base across too many game worlds. Maybe Dwilight was a mistake. I'm not above admitting and fixing mistakes.

[Norrel]

Maybe Dwilight was a mistake.

Oh god no.

[Tom]

Oh god no.

Oh yes. From what I've seen from the distance, it has sucked the spirit out of every other island in the game, and it's the main reason everything is spread thin.

Find me 500 new players and I'll eat my words, but right now, I do think that Dwilight was a mistake.

[Lorgan]

Oh yes. From what I've seen from the distance, it has sucked the spirit out of every other island in the game, and it's the main reason everything is spread thin.

I have to disagree. I'm not experiencing any less spirit in the realms I've been in since Dwilight was created. Dwilight's SMA has even had a positive influence in my opinion with people on other continents taking atmosphere more seriously without getting too serious. EC has an epic war going on in the South with the Northern war being as good as over (and it was pretty epic as well); AT has the Allies vs. Empire war; BT is finally alive again and man, do I love that continent and everything about it :) ; FE has Arcaea creeping ever closer to island hegemony from what I hear; the Colonies... no idea and Dwilight has an excellent atmosphere and some amazing plans for the future brewing in pretty much all realms I think. The BM spirit has never been so alive.

Those who whine are just not willing to make sacrifices, sacrifices that are sometimes necessary to have fun. I honestly don't see what's wrong with large patches of rogue wastelands being created on the front lines, or behind them, it's the price of war and actually pretty darn realistic. I personally love the current estate system and for me nothing has to change but I like the proposed changes so far, they'll make a great system even better and that's why I look forward to them. Not because I expect them to solve all my problems, you should never rely on code changes to solve your problems, solve them yourself.

[Bedwyr]

Oh yes. From what I've seen from the distance, it has sucked the spirit out of every other island in the game, and it's the main reason everything is spread thin.

I agree with Lorgan, I just don't see this.  AT is finally having the war people have been wanting for years, EC's having some great conflicts, FEI has been in turmoil for a while and it's just going to get better, BT has picked up from what I've heard and the implications of the last Invasion are rippling outward, Dwilight's awesome...I don't know anything about the Colonies, but I don't think the game is going half-badly at the moment.

[LilWolf]

I agree with Lorgan, I just don't see this.  AT is finally having the war people have been wanting for years, EC's having some great conflicts, FEI has been in turmoil for a while and it's just going to get better, BT has picked up from what I've heard and the implications of the last Invasion are rippling outward, Dwilight's awesome...I don't know anything about the Colonies, but I don't think the game is going half-badly at the moment.

The conflicts are there, but you have to admit, all those wars would be more dynamic if there were more characters involved. Heck, Atamara would probably be looking at a few colonies right now which would have made things an order of magnitude more interesting. Will the new estate system be enough to change that? No. It will help, but not that much.

When Beluaterra was being invaded there was a very natural chance for drowning an island that the player could have accepted. Now..well..no matter what island might be sunken, there would be angry players. Is sinking an island needed? Hard to say. Maybe. I know I'd certainly enjoy it if Darka was able to go back to the days of having 80 nobles instead of 55.

[Zakilevo]

The game has became a bit too complicated for people looking for a light text based game?

[Perth]

The real question is, however, would sinking an island translate to more characters/players on other isalnds? Very hard to say. Some would simply move to the remaining standing islands, while yet others would probably be upset and leave the game.

The question is what the ratio would be between those two groups, and if the ratio of people staying to people leaving would be worth sinking an island.

[Anaris]

Maybe Dwilight was a mistake. I'm not above admitting and fixing mistakes.

So long as your "fix" is not to close Dwilight.

If you look at Vellos's analyses in the Retention thread, Dwilight appears to be the continent with the best retention numbers, and has actually been increasing its player count, while the other continents are generally trending down.

I think that the one of the very worst things you could do for the game at this point would be to close Dwilight.

[De-Legro]

Oh yes. From what I've seen from the distance, it has sucked the spirit out of every other island in the game, and it's the main reason everything is spread thin.

Find me 500 new players and I'll eat my words, but right now, I do think that Dwilight was a mistake.

Did Dwilight suck the spirit out of the other continents, or just offer a compelling game experience that highlighted the dissatisfaction with the other continents.

[Phellan]

Did Dwilight suck the spirit out of the other continents, or just offer a compelling game experience that highlighted the dissatisfaction with the other continents.

Pretty much.   I would never touch EC or Atamara.

At this point I play to play on dwilight and cause I have some character history on FEI.  otherwise. . yea.   Dwilight kept and keeps me playing.   

[Ramiel]

Love Dwilight... Even if I was kicked from the Luria's I know enough about the general realms of the Continent to ensure many RL years of fun if I felt "hurt" and didnt go back to the Luria's. Heck SA will be crazy fun to play for my next toon (maybe), or maybe I would do a 'Dirty' Madinian republican... or one of the realms close to the Zuma... or... well I could go on. Only Realm on Dwilight that I personally wouldnt play is D'hara cos of their silliness in taking Cities they cant afford to take (IMO).

Pretty much: Dwilight is Awesome!