The Way Forward

[Buffalkill]

I was lucky when playing and got several medals within a month of playing for a couple of RP's I had written. I feel that the ones that handed the medals out to me were aware of the lack in medal-giving and actively gave out medals (since this issue had been broached on the forums once or twice)? What I think is that people with medals to give should be reminded they can give out medals, as maybe older players sometimes forget? I don't know since, as I said, I haven't played that long and maybe this isn't the issue.

I wouldn't know how such a notification system would be implemented, or if it is even necessary. Older-player feedback would be necessary on this.

I think you are correct, based on what I've read in the discussions on the topic.

[cenrae]

You need five our more medals to get an extra character right? What happens if you give those away, do you lose the character slot?

Our am I thinking of fame?

[Anaris]

The number of medals you have can never decrease.

The medals you give do not come from the medals you have; they come from a separate, invisible pool.

[bofeng]

As a new player that joined BM 4 months ago, my answer to the density problem is to deal more with new player retention, and Dev team should put more weight on attracting new players.

It is at least equally important as old player retention. While on this forum I guess most of you are long time players, please don't underestimate how important it is about new player retention.

Let's face it: the game is boring for most of new players. There aren't a lot of people talking every day. There aren't many options left for newbies. The dev team should spend more time thinking for new players.

Eventually after I got promoted, I said "wow": there are so many things a marshal can do, and there are so many things a region lord can do! But most new players will drop before they even know those features.. Why does a new player stay for several months, just following all the orders without quitting? He has little to say regarding the strategy side of the game, because he has no/little in-game channel to get involved in all the discussions. I just realized there is a "Local" forum when I started to have a look at this forum 2 days ago!

1) why can't a new player try different classes from day 1? I understand some requires high prestige, but can we just assume new players are from noble families that can meet these requirements?

2) why some information is hide from new characters? For example, dose market price of food in a region need to be hide from new characters? Can we show those "advanced" buttons even if newbies can't use them?

3) more aggressively, why a knight can't have any option regarding to his estate? If a province is owned by a baron, for example, maybe a town is assigned to a knight. Adding more features to new players can open up a lot of fun for the newbies.

4) what's the fun about following orders and is there anything else to do other than line settings?
If there is no discussion you can join because of either lack of knowledge/experience or lack of authority, basically all you can do is to follow orders. Is there any possibility that BM can give more things that a troop leader can do besides following orders? (I know this is a strategic game, not a slash/loot rpg. But please..)

5) What's the char limit on adventurers for? New players spend significant portion of their time on the adventurers part
Adventurers are playing RPG games. They will not break any balance. Lifting this limit will only give players that have more time chances to enjoy more of the game. People may think that adventurer part is just an add-on, but to a new player that can't do any decision-making but follow orders, an adventurer is free from those orders and can enjoy a lot of fun. There are so many popular trading card games out there that have little player interaction, but attract huge player base! Just introduce some fun features to the adventurer part, and potentially the density problem may be solved as a by-product! I believe BM has more potential than people think. The overall goal is to make this game more fun with more players, and is not just to limit it as a "pure-strategic" game.



The above discussion about new players may seem a little bit off from the current topic (local forum, and reduce # of islands). But I take the opinion that short term solutions cannot solve long term problems. Only by adding more fun features can BM solve the density and retention problem in the long run.

[Penchant]

1) Its about the character, not the player or family. When I make a new character I have all the same restrictions as a character who was made by a new player.

2)I don't know what you are talking about, so please explain a little more on that.

3)There have been suggestions like that that I think were accepted but there is a list a mile long of to-do's and I don't think that is that high up the list.

4)Interacting with other nobles although its an issue with less players, as a new player likely won't start the interactions, they likely often need someone else to start interacting with them and they interact back, hopefully. Otherwise, I completely agree, the game needs more to do on the knight level, suggestions are welcome as I brought up the issue before and they didn't know what you would add and neither did I.

5)While there should be a limit still, perhaps increasing the amount of advies you can have by simply saying you can also have 2 for instance advies in addition to the limit of nobles active you can have. They are a grind that is good yet bad at the sametime for new players. Good because its gets them something to do, but they need to have a noble because thats where the social interaction and the core of the game is. (The core of the game being nobles/social interaction is with the nobles is the bad part of new players playing advies.)

[Lorgan]

stuff

Do away with all the paranoid limits and restrictions!

I approve of this post.

And while we're on the subject of doing away with silly restrictions... how about removing all those damn hard caps in the "new" tax system? (Yes yes, I know. I just couldn't help myself... )

[Gustav Kuriga]

Do away with all the paranoid limits and restrictions!

I approve of this post.

And while we're on the subject of doing away with silly restrictions... how about removing all those damn hard caps in the "new" tax system? (Yes yes, I know. I just couldn't help myself... )

Agreed, I have never really gotten why we have a character limit in the first place when we already have a limit on how many characters one person can have on a continent. The "they'll just be drones" argument just doesn't fly in the face of the fact that we just don't have enough characters in general to do anything besides being drones.

[Azerax]

As a new player that joined BM 4 months ago, my answer to the density problem is to deal more with new player retention, and Dev team should put more weight on attracting new players.

I am curious as to how you heard about BM?

We do spend quite a bit of time thinking about ways to get new players, but our resources are limited, we need community support to drive these initiatives.

cheers,

[Buffalkill]

I am curious as to how you heard about BM?

We do spend quite a bit of time thinking about ways to get new players, but our resources are limited, we need community support to drive these initiatives.

cheers,

I heard about BM by word of mouth. Why not give incentives to people who bring in more players? e.g. increase their character limit, give them a medal, give them a fame point, etc.

[Indirik]

Not a bad idea. But it does open up the incentive to multi-account.

Not saying that's a reason to drop the idea. Just something to keep in mind.

[Buffalkill]

Agreed, I have never really gotten why we have a character limit in the first place when we already have a limit on how many characters one person can have on a continent. The "they'll just be drones" argument just doesn't fly in the face of the fact that we just don't have enough characters in general to do anything besides being drones.

Agreed. I'd rather be in a realm with 20 drones and 10 people who are really engaged, than in a realm with only 10 people who are bored.

[Foxglove]

Thanks for making that posting, bofeng. I think it's one of the most interesting and valuable ones I've read on the issue of new player retention. Your following opinion is one that I share, and have brought up a few times myself:

Let's face it: the game is boring for most of new players. There aren't a lot of people talking every day. There aren't many options left for newbies. The dev team should spend more time thinking for new players.

Eventually after I got promoted, I said "wow": there are so many things a marshal can do, and there are so many things a region lord can do! But most new players will drop before they even know those features.. Why does a new player stay for several months, just following all the orders without quitting?

There's no escaping the fact that the entry level gameplay experience of a new rank-and-file knight player is boring. It's arguable that BM only really becomes interesting to play once you get control of a region, are put into a Marshal/Vice-Marshal position (for those interested in the strategy side of things), or are lucky enough to leapfrog into a government position. The lack of decent and engaging gameplay at the new player level is something that only the already overworked volunteer Devs can significantly improve (various ideas have been floated and approved such as more options for knightly estates, newbie quests, and such).

However, existing players can maybe do something to improve new player retention in the meantime. I think we need a new thread where we can share, discuss, and try to create strategies to make the game more interesting for new players within the constraints of the existing game mechanics. I'll start said tread later when I have more time, unless someone else wants to do so first. Let's try to join together to find ideas to make things more interesting for new players.

[egamma]

As a new player that joined BM 4 months ago, my answer to the density problem is to deal more with new player retention, and Dev team should put more weight on attracting new players.

1) why can't a new player try different classes from day 1? I understand some requires high prestige, but can we just assume new players are from noble families that can meet these requirements?

2) why some information is hide from new characters? For example, dose market price of food in a region need to be hide from new characters? Can we show those "advanced" buttons even if newbies can't use them?

4) what's the fun about following orders and is there anything else to do other than line settings?
If there is no discussion you can join because of either lack of knowledge/experience or lack of authority, basically all you can do is to follow orders. Is there any possibility that BM can give more things that a troop leader can do besides following orders? (I know this is a strategic game, not a slash/loot rpg. But please..)

1:
Infiltrator: If we allowed people to start of with "new" infiltrators, we'd have a bunch of wannabe ninjas running around, getting caught and not really doing anything. It takes months of training (and a sponsor to provide you with gold for that training) at the academy before you can make a good infiltrator.

Hero: I think the idea is that you should play your character for a while, and grow attached to them, before you can decide that it's okay for them to die. This is to prevent people from making instant heros and not caring about the character.

Cavalier: Eh, I could see this one being okay at the two-week mark, personally.

Trader: 2 weeks is fair.

Courtier: limit is put in place to protect new players so they don't get stuck on region maintenance duty while the old players go off to war

Priest: I think it's 2 weeks, that's fair.

2: Only people who can trade (traders, region lords, stewards, banker) get to see food information. It's not useful to others. Not sure what else you're talking about.

4: following orders is fun because that's how you win battles, and it's fun to win battles.

And, welcome! Always nice to meet a new player.

[Azerax]

1:
Infiltrator: If we allowed people to start of with "new" infiltrators, we'd have a bunch of wannabe ninjas running around, getting caught and not really doing anything. It takes months of training (and a sponsor to provide you with gold for that training) at the academy before you can make a good infiltrator.

Hero: I think the idea is that you should play your character for a while, and grow attached to them, before you can decide that it's okay for them to die. This is to prevent people from making instant heros and not caring about the character.

Cavalier: Eh, I could see this one being okay at the two-week mark, personally.

Trader: 2 weeks is fair.

Courtier: limit is put in place to protect new players so they don't get stuck on region maintenance duty while the old players go off to war

Priest: I think it's 2 weeks, that's fair.

2: Only people who can trade (traders, region lords, stewards, banker) get to see food information. It's not useful to others. Not sure what else you're talking about.

4: following orders is fun because that's how you win battles, and it's fun to win battles.

And, welcome! Always nice to meet a new player.

Just two comments:

Infiltrator - so?  If someone thinks they can do it and fails miserably, let them try.  It will provide amusement.  Having wannabe infiltrators may also cause conflict, which is always good.  I don't see the argument that they will not be a good infiltrator as a reason to prevent them.  Grog knows we have had many Kings/lords/judges/etc who have been terrible but that did not prevent them from trying.

Priest - again, so what?  It would be plausible that a younger sibling was trained from birth to be a person of the cloth.  let them do it from day 1.

cheers,
Scott

[Kai]

Active characters is already 3 to begin with isn't it? So who cares.

I already made a suggestion ages ago, just raise noble cap to 3, either after 1 week or just immediately. Then people posted and the posts get worse and worse.