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Zone Insight
Original Thread: Click Here
Hello Everyone, This is a serious discussion I would like to have with all of you. In this discussion spam or useless post will NOT be tolerated. We are here to discuss Zone and what we can do to make it truly better. In this discussion I want to know what things about Zone do players not like. What are reasons players do not come to Zone? I want honest answers and I do not want you to reply to somebody else post. I want you to simply state your reason and why you think that is the reason. Some things I can think of are the following: Players do not want to buy their custom uploads all over again. Players have spent to much time on other servers. Players have spent to much money on other servers. Players do not like that the server has 360 Degree shooting. Players do not want to leave their friends on the other servers. So as stated above this is a serious discussion. Keep this clean and just post your reason why and do not respond to others. Please let me know as I want to bring Zone to the same player count as the other servers. Comments from other players so far: MrSimons: Content doesn't cater to a large enough variety of players. There is virtually no roleplay capability on zone (this is being worked on as far as I have heard?...), and it eliminates a very large portion of people. I know that there are very few people on zone that enjoy role play, which is why it has never been a priority, but thats just because it is very hard to role play, so people who enjoy it aren't going to be spending any time on zone. Unappealing interface, and difficult to use systems. Probably the biggest turn-off for everyone. One of the big things I have noticed is tiny buttons that have even tinier hit boxes, making mundane tasks hell. Personally I think it could do the server good to have an entire re-haul on its buttons and such. Things being copied from other servers. I went to place a furniture item a couple days ago and when moving it around noticed that the layer button was literally the exact same one as on classic. Sure taking things like that from other servers isn't a problem, but at least make it look good and custom made for the server. Kenovo: I love iZone. I left Classic for it and never went back. Heck, I find Medieval type servers a lot more appealing to be honest, yet something about Zone had me hooked to stay. The server itself I enjoy, but I know that it's far from perfect. These are things I feel desperately need to be worked on in hopes of improving. The Tileset Yes, it all reminds us of Zone, it's basically the look of Zone. But is that really a good thing? I find the Tileset very unappealing, it's outdated and needs to be completely removed or cosmetically updated a lot. This could be a big turn off for new players, it's just not a pretty tileset. The GMAP The updates for the map have been nice and a well improvement from the ones before it. But I feel it lacks a civilization type feeling. Zone is supposed to be a community of people who have built a city in space. As of now, it looks like a giant shopping mall. What it really needs is a total revamp of the GMAP. Make it feel as if its a realistic floating monopolis. Add houses (can tie in with RolePlaying and quests etc), UNIQUE shops, a separation of buildings (currently shops and areas are bunched up and this helps add to the shopping mall feeling), towns or some sort of indication of seperations. I truly feel if the GMAP is updated along with the Tileset itd help Zone become A LOT more appealing. UNIQUE Shops This ties in with GMAP a bit but I thought I'd go a little more into detail. I feel like Zone needs to only have a few UNIQUELY themed shops around the entire GMAP that would provide the items Zonians want. Having a lot of random, outdated shops on the Map feels like old content and a waste of space. Instead each shop (like 5 shops entirely) could be updated periodically with new content instead of releasing an entire new shop that'll most likely be random and serving no actual purpose. WILL EDIT THIS POST LATER AND ADD STUFF TO IT. Rockstar: I think we need more quests and story lines, I feel there is a lack of adventure when it comes to Zone, Era and Classic (I believe) both do Christmas and Easter and Halloween quests, during this period, their playercount does get pretty high.. Maybe something to think about.. TheRealSKT: I think it has to do with friends. People brougt this up already but if that one person in your initial circle doesn't make the first leap then no one will follow. I mean back on classic there we're those few nalnians that were from era but no one was ever from zone. And no one ever thought about it. There was no reason to. And then I think it was Tron who decided to hop on it one day when NAL2 was starting up and he said it was fun. That got me intrigued. When I was given the guild and disbanded it... Lol... And then banned from the guild after they got it back... Lol... I had no reason to play classic. And so I already was a baller on era and went to zone. It was hella fun and I got some classic players on and they stayed with me. That's what I see most of our players as, just friends of friends. I also think that there's tons of Zera things and the whole "rip off of era" is scaring people away. Era Is a pay to win game whereas zone is a play to win. It's not at all like era and it really bugs me when people say that it is. I also think that it's poor and lacking on the android side. Like lets break this down Just via tapatalk. Every "sent from my" sig has come from an android(so I've seen, maybe one Apple dev). Also, android users have more ram, at least if ur a mainstreamer, than apples. There's no excuse for us to have less since we can take more without lagging. I mean they fixed the leaderboards which is a step but we still don't have equal rights. #SeperateButEqualAmiiRight. Lastly I think the skybases were a big deal. Now everyone knows why I love them. All of my squads hours were from them but beside that fact think about it. There are already indoor bases in other servers. There's already in game mini games on era. Skybases were unique to zone in the way that pyrat was unique to classic. You didn't need a huge number yo take them. It's not about skill with guns. Its about straight up yolo rushing. And with saying rushing I don't mean just using your jetpack. I mean saudix never used one, he'd always go through the fences and he still wrecked. A lot of people do like having it ezpz hours. But some crazy people love having to fend off people from taking skybases. Its the thrill that kept me on zone and if you look at tons of skybasers ever since they were removed we've all decreased our activity. You don't take half time from football so you should leave what was perfect alone. Oh and lastly... Furniture. I know I might be the only one who cares but that's a big deal. I mean I've spent half a mil on my houses on other servers but zone lacks the furn so much I don't even bother with squad houses. Also there are also tons of bias towards players. We probably have the best staff but honestly if you've ever crossed a staff's line even just once they don't forget it. And no one will care that I wrote this because everyone will say that it's just on the person. No lmao, *that's Lord make another ogre mind you* there are honestly certain people that we can all admit are the blandest people on the server who are just ignored by staff. And this happens on every server due to basic human instincts of only surrounding yourself with the best, so I don't expect anything to be done to this. |
Assuming that anything is possible here
The main issue not just with iZone but other servers as well is how content is played. What will keep a player to stay is repeatable content, not necessarily a grind but maybe something like 'do this for x amount of days and receive this' for example. Cut down on the number of shops, like someone else suggested. Seriously, the shops made by players (no offence to Hadi or Jared) would have been a lot better as a sale/temp restock rather than introducing a whole new shop, because like someone said, it's dead content. Stricter graphic standards, please set them. The server needs to develop a style and stick to it, at first it did with the initial tileset but all sorts have been added and now it's pretty jumbled. Set stricter standards and enforce them. |
I got into zone at a certain time along with 4 others of my bestest companions and ended up staying there for a good amount of time (about 2 months). My 3 friends out of the 4 ended up helping out zone as gfx admins until there were some situations regarding one of them and another staff. That friend eventually said he was tired of the poor treatment given to him and we all left together back to classic after Unholy Nations.
The reason I dont personally like Zone is the way its set up, i'm all used to classic style so getting into zone was difficult, and then there was the rewards for some players that abused some big glitch and notified the admins, the only thing that concerned me there is why reward them for abusing it then fixing it? Those are just my personal problems, I visit from time to time although i have alot of time. I also agree with what admiral said, there are over 4 player shops and even some hidden which is pretty ridiculous. Zone needs to limit the hats, do what classic does and update a certain hat shop once in a while instead of continously making more levels that are for those certain hats, and the player shops need to really go because not only could there be one building thats updated monthly for that but I mean zone doesnt need to take player made things when it has gfx admins. Then theres the GFX problem, why is there only one admin (Kenovo) doing most of the work? I think its unfair although he may disagree and say it's okay, it really isnt because I checked the list of admins and boy there are alot of GFX there but they are all either lazy, inactive, or just bad at what they do. I hope Kenovo is getting a raise in gralats because zone needs extremely active staff |
Updated my original post. Sorry for the horrid Grammar, in a rush. Should give you a general idea of what I feel needs to get done.
Making it more "Futuristic" Zone is very lack luster in this area. The stated before reasons can help to improving overall quality of the server, but it'd till be lacking in being futuristic. Here's what I believe needs to happen: Completely remove all the Planets and remake them Planets are a BIG part of a futuristic scheme, as of now they serve no real purpose except for Basing. I find that really disappointing. What should happen is there should be Planets with UNIQUE CIVILIZATIONS; species, climate, buildings, base. Meaning we take all the current aspect of the game a revitalize them onto New planets. This also ties in with my next point; Factions. Factions I always loved this idea since Nyte first introduced it. It really should be considered as a serious system and project to be worked on. I don't want to go into too much detail with there's a thread with it all, but I'll tie it together. Each Planet could have it as own Faction. As an example, let's say Lava Planet. There's Fire Faction, if you choose this Faction you must protect this planet from other Factions. If they take over your Planet you have to win it back, in the meantime they're gaining Faction Time. This can take over Basing entirely or be a ranking system within the Factions, and the ones with more Faction Time can have access to their Factions' items and weapons that they may get and greatly improve their battling. |
iZone needs more of its core elements from the server it came from. Less squad-related content and actually make use of planets like Iricia, KotH, Gwars, etc. and make them a team vs team map vying for their objective. I understand that squads bring in revenue, but if Zone actually distanced itself from other servers and made use of Zone's guns, vehicles and maps in the way they were made, you'd probably bring in a fair bit of players once word gets out as Zone was loved. People that I've talked to and played with or who've tried iZone years after trying PC say it's utter trash due to the fact that it is nothing like Zone and is just a carbon copy of every other iServer with the way it's handling guns, health, social and PvP aspects. When GIT was working on guns he was bringing back that good PvP side of Zone and a few players actually came back because it was starting to remind them of Zone.
TL;DR: Less squad-oriented focus and have more 1v1 fixed teams with auto-balance and such on planets (Teams such as Storm Troopers and Raiders). Put rewards for winning if you want, but it needs to be less squad-oriented and the server needs to define itself more, instead of taking everything from the other iServers. I could go into more detail if you want, unless this is enough. |
Titan:
I don't really post on the forums but id like to give my opinion on this. For starters I think that most people on zone and other graal servers are mostly looking for new content or something new to do rather than the same things. I mean look at ol west before ol west came out zone had an adverage of 700-850 people online, snap we even hit 1k players. When ol west came out though we decreased ALOT, I believe people just want good quality content on zone to keep playing. They saw how new ol west was going to be with a pretty new setup and left. I feel zone just needs more content and not useless content I mean fishing: no one really does it anymore nor is it much fun or accomplishing($$) we need content that's more suitable to zone like idk this is the future how cool would it be to have a mech solider in conquest making chaos? Trust me I agree on mostly everything everyone has said above especially the tile set the same blue color ew, but content should be one of are top proaties for what good is a server without much to do? Prime example: Delitera(think I spelled that wrong XD) delt looks awesome but I played it for a week and got bored of it from lack of content - - - Updated - - - Zone also needs a whole cleanup with indoor bases. For starters: There to much like era/classic (no I'm not yelling zera) Small gangs used to have a chance at getting base hours but now? No. It's practically impossible for people to get anywhere near the base under the conditions of a whole squad firing at you while going through doors, obstacles, and 3 levels. SkyBases should be added back: they gave small squads a nice start prime example is the gang Rebels they might of never reached 1k if they didn't have the chance to start small and take SkyBases. Plus SkyBases are a very unique something other servers don't have, now some may say SkyBases are filled withs PKers and that PKers get way to much kills out of them. As someone who is a PKer I agree lots of people do go to SkyBases to PK and I agree I get tons of kills from them but it's a base your going to have people that just want to kill. Maybe we should put the whole level system in action to avoid this. Level 3+ can enter sky bases, 6+ can enter conquest and spring towers, 10+ can enter spring, Iricia. This may sound kinda unfair but it'll get people playing and doing missions. It'll also be a use for levels as well as prevent the whole PK issue for SkyBases. Ghettoicedea: I personally do not like the path zone is heading down. It is starting to feel a lot more like a more balanced era and straying away from its origins were of full blown warfare server. I would like to see zone tilt more towards the full blown warfare on iricia but considering how people dont like this and are more in favor of the era type jig. When people play zone they want something entirely different so i vote we start by revamping the bases. Ill just put in what should be done to boost player count. Revamping bases systems. What needs to be done here is very very very simple. First is get rid of god damn flags entirely. Change it so its like PC eras system of theres a countdown timer. One person = 1 second and if a defender and attacker is on the flag area the timer stops. If a defender is on the flag the timer counts towards 0. If an attacker is on the flag then the timer counts towards 30. Second is making a seperate spawn for attackers and defenders. Defenders spawn is located in a different room that then leads into the flag room. You go through a couple of rooms though to time out the deployment time so its not defenders roflstomp everytime. Third. Make irica, ctf, spring, spring towers, conquest, and cohros events. These bases are pretty much dead (not conquest tho) and since you clealry want people to use the skybases you might as well make those admin hosted events. Also you will see what graal warfare REALLY looks like on a massive scale like old zone. Buff jobs slightly. Im not talking omfg double trash spawn rate. Im just talking very small job buffs to jobs to really make this server attractive because its easier to make money. Right now trashpicking is the supreme. It would be great if other jobs like space ships and shipping got buffs so less people are doing trashpicking and that will just buff itself without any work because less people will do it since other jobs are more stable and make the same money. The goal for all jobs should be at least 10k per hour. Gun variaties and effects from guns. One of the things i tried to bring back to zone was secondary firings. See guns in old zone had alt fires that did seperate things. So the photon rifle for example if you charged its shot up would shoot out a gigantic charged shot that decimated anything it hit. I already started doing all of that and started to develope stuff like that (i had a few charged shots done actually for some guns). I had one completed for the railgun that was going to get a huge nerf standered gun but add in a charge fired that shot out 12 bullets in a stream at .1 seconds doing 6 damage each. You could not move at all while using it and it had a 5 second cool down. I had more written down but that would require me to dig out my pen and paper gun stats i have and im in the car on my way back to st louis so nothing i can do there but i had like 3 others at least. I also was on a massive verge on guns that was being blocked by a bug and wouldnt let the gun bullets do any damage or show up on the other players client so that was for mostly the mortars that i almost had but the general idea of it was it is a mega grenade launcher with a double explosion radius of a GL and like 25 damage or something with a tedious ROF and you couldnt move while using it. You could adjust the distance and how far the bullet would go like grenades in pc era. Another one that everyone knows about is the sniper rifle. I dont need to go into details about that since everyone knows about it. Third ADVERTISE DAMMIT. This is the downfall of graal, you gotta spend money to make money and unix clearly dont get that because he doesnt advertise the game. Try to convince unix to start paying companies to advertise the game and stop depending on word of mouth to go around from the players. If companies advertise the game then the player count will skyrocket for ALL servers. |
I honestly can't do much but agree with other rants here.
BUT One thing that bugs me is that iZone doesn't feel like Zone in terms of weapons. Zone was more like Halo to a degree, there were actually guns that went bang alongside energy weapons. Infact, most of the guns on Zone were of the gunpowder-propelled variety. So please, bring back the bang. |
Zone is confusing, also. There's nothing much to do on there.
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The problem with all graal games is that there is no story. It'd be kind of cool to implement some sort of tutorial in the beginning that launches you into a mission.
Also, yeah. Advertise. |
I disagree with what a lot of people have posted. It's not the story, advertisement or even a lack of content nowadays. It's the way the server is run.
The problems stems from the direction that you (and by extension the rest of the staff team) are moving in: Quote:
The server has had so many opportunities to create a different type of game. But every time, there is zero innovation. You could have gone in the direction of PvE missions, and actually created ones that weren't ****. That would have been completely different than what is on the other servers. The planet system could have been great. Instead of being actual worlds to be fought over, they're just glorified towers. In fact, they're worse than towers, because they aren't even in the regular world. There is so much you could have done to distinguish Zone from every other iOS server, but instead you look at what is already popular and try to hop on the bandwagon to grab a few more players. Focus on making an appealing, different game for new players then you can move on to the minutia like customs. Custom heads aren't the issue here. The issue is that there aren't enough Graal players to support 5 servers the size of classic or era. So, instead of trying to cannibalize the market by actively trying to take away players from other servers, actually make your own game. The way it is now, Zone is a **** server, but it has a ton of potential. If you want to be great you have to play on your strengths. Don't just be era in space, use your setting to the full advantage. Don't take ideas from other servers, expand upon them and create your own. Originality is what peaks interest in people viewing the appstore, and I'm telling you now, as someone who looks at the game from the outside, zone has zero personality, it's boring. It might sound like I'm flaming, but its not a hidden fact that a lot of players dislike zone. I'm not going to beat around the bush. As it is, Zone is not appealing to me and, based on the player count, not appealing to a lot of other players. TL;DR Make your own game. Don't copy another. Originality draws in players. Edit: Also I understand that it's hard to find good staff (especially on a server that isn't one of the most popular) but you need to work on quality control. It's great that you have dedicated members of the staff team, but sometimes you have to tell them their work is not good enough. A lot of the graphics on zone are sub par and the levels are pretty hideous (although that might be the fault of the tileset, it's pretty ugly). Quality control is one of the biggest changes in Classic over the past 3 years. If you look at an older release like yorktown and compare it to newer content like the railways or MoD town, there's a huge difference. Never underestimate the effect of polish. |
I'm going to be honest, but one of the reasons I left was because of the graphics. If graphics don't appeal to players, don't expect them to stay very long. You need a solid team in charge of graphics standards as already mentioned, as well as a team in charge of advertisement. It seems to me that you have very limited staff when it comes to things like this, and my guess is that it's due to too broad of assignments.
Example: if you want to develop a website, don't just take a couple of guys from your graphics team and ZP. Instead, go for quality and hire a team to do it for you. This may seem too farfetched, but it takes work in order to get good results. Edit: I partially agree with what Imprint said, not completely. It's a big game of cause and effect. The way you run the server reflects on the content, advertisement, and everything in between. I can't go too deep into an explanation because it's such a broad topic. Another thing, that tileset definitely needs to be updated. Hire a decent graphics team to help with the development of an updated tileset that works well for what your gmap goal will be rather than putting the puzzle pieces in the wrong places and hoping it looks nice. Yeah... One last thing :D Competition. Whether it's against other graal servers, or a completely different company, it's a competition. This may be graal, but you're in control of the way the server is run, and I don't think your superiors would be mad if you drew in more players than the rest of the servers through advertisement, because in the end it's them getting the money. Do whatever it takes to draw in players as long as it doesn't degrade the other servers. Everone who replied to this post before me and those who will reply are proof that zone has massive potential, because we wouldn't be replying if otherwise. It's only a matter of whether you use that potential for the better. Lastly, if I were in your position, I'd treat it like a business, not a game. In order to make money, you gotta spend money. Don't go cheap, because quality is key. |
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I would personally love not to have been banned for 24'000 days (No exxageration, either it was some auto-ban thing or a staff member). I will live with it if I have to, but 24'000 days? A tad overkill maybe?
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Zone Insight
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I'm guessing that one of the main reasons that not many players are playing this is that it's kinda boring. I mean, there's isn't much going on there, especially when you already got your dream items. The only activities you can do there is earn Gralats or Zone Coins, trading or just sit at the Start Park and chat. And until the festive seasons are here with all new items, that could just be the daily routine everyday. You could try improving the current activities like adding quests which requires you to get materials from certain missions, or just add in new rewards to get players hyped about it.
This is my reason why aren't there many players in the game. Hope this helps. :) |
You want honest reasons? Okay.
Let's start from the beginning. Instead of you being a polite manager you were a huge **** to everyone. The staff are horribly unhelpful. The hat trading? Come on pathetic... I'd honestly rather play Delteria. Your server will never rise up like Era or Classic. Get over it. |
Being a pessimist, Distorted? We need optimist people, at least some iClassic's players aren't being hurtful and giving suggestions to raise the playercount of iZone.
I suggest there should be storyline following Zone's past. |
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And iZone is doomed, everyone who's not new to Graal completely hates Zone a lot. |
Rewrote all my ideas again, added some things and hopefully made it easier to understand what I'm trying to portray.
THE GMAP Zone's GMAP needs to feel like a futuristic monopolis in outerspace, not a giant shopping mall in the sky. How can we achieve a better GMAP? What needs to be revamped? I'll tell you! -The Amount of Shops -The way the outside buildings are constructed -New Tileset -UNIQUE Shops -Planets -Towns -Factions THE AMOUNT OF SHOPS Zone shouldn't be occupied by a bunch of half-assed, no purpose, no theme Shops. Instead it should have a maximum of 5 shops with a UNIQUE theme and quality work. Instead of polluting the GMAP with more shops we can continue to update the 5 shops. Make content -> leave it for awhile -> make new content -> remove the old content. This would keep fresh content in and remove old, outdated content that can make the server seem stale. THE WAY THE OUTSIDE BUILDINGS ARE CONSTRUCTED They need to stop being bunched up with shop on top of shop. Instead each individual building should have a distinguishable look and design that makes it stand out. This is hard with the current tileset, which brings me to my next point. NEW TILESET My goodness, this should just be obvious by now. The tileset is NOT pretty. It's lacking attractiveness and honestly can be a big reason for players to turn away from Zone. It ruins a lot of cosmetic factors that players look for in a game. We need to either get a new one made, or use a previously made one, because it's about time we looked to get a new one. UNIQUE SHOPS Kinda stated this along with the AMOUNT OF SHOPS section, but we need unique shops, not an excessive amount. We need to completely remove all shops and make a couple PERMANENT ones that can be updated periodically to remove outdated content. They need to serve a purpose, have a loosely fitting theme, and be nicely developed. PLANETS Currently, the planets are very very very lack luster to be straightfoward. They need to incorporate a new civilization, a new life, different terrain. Much like Earth does for us. Planets should be a big part of iZone as it is for futuristicly themed projects everywhere. Planets should consist of these things: a special species found uniquely on that planet, a complete civilization and structure of life, a Faction, and of course a planet to defend! Example: Lava Planet- Lava Race, a fire based civilaztion with a lava tileset, Fire Faction, and the Lava Planet to defend! TOWNS This again, ties in with the GMAP. If it's seen that we don't want to go forward with the Planet+Faction area then the GMAP needs to be remodeled to showcase an actual living environment. Meaning theres noticeable seperations throughout the GMAP. The Map could be split up in various towns with special environments etc. Even if this isnt done, the current GMAP needs to be revamped to represent this in someway. (THE GMAP WOULD BE THE NEUTRAL PLANET FOR EVERYONE, THE OTHER PLANETS WOULD BE SEPERATE AND INCORPORATE PKING, BASING, ETC) FACTIONS This desperately needs to be worked on and released. It ties in with the renovation of Planets as well, so they're ideally a package item. Zonians are able to choose a Faction to join and be a representation of them. Let's say I like Fire so I join the Fire Faction over Water, Earth, Light, and Dark. This then means my home planet is the Lava Planet. Whenever I choose to Faction Base I would either attack other Planets being the Fire Faction, or defending the Lava Planet from others. Factions are entirely your choice and can be ranked by Faction Time, getting your Faction to a set time can release new items for your Faction Family that would greatly increase your battling powers. |
I agree with many things here:
When it came out i was hyped but sadly i was disappointed, hopefully izone can change for the better :]. |
I agree with Kenovo on a new gmap and the concept of splitting the gmap up into distinguishable towns. For me it'd be a breath of fresh air at the least, iEra is all one city. And don't make the mistake iClassic did, make your towns have substance and don't fill all the available space with shops.
I think a big thing that needs to be considered when redoing the gmap is that not every building has to be a shop or provide a service. |
Here are my ideas, some have probably been said:
Towns: As Kenovo said we should separate zone into different towns or zones (woop). I've always wanted the zone map to also have different names for their areas. Like on iClassic we have Swamptown, Snowtown etc. Tileset: Like everyone is saying, the tileset doesn't look too good. There was a tileset being made (A much better looking version of the current tileset made by Shane) but that seems to have been abandoned or something. Someone who has a similar graphics style to Shane should pick up from where he left off and complete it. HUD: In my opinion the HUD looks yuck/old, and makes zone seem like some cheap MMO. If someone were to edit/remake the HUD I think it would look a lot more appealing to the players. When I'm talking about HUD, I mean the Menu, Profile, Chat buttons and hot keys. Staff: This isn't about staff doing a poor job, their doing just fine. But about 95% of Zone staff are from the US and that means there is always a blank spot where no staff are on (during night time in Australia). We need more Asian/Australian staff to fill in that gap as me and Platinum are the only Australian staff currently working on zone. Shops: All shops on zone need to be different, not just all named 'Style Co.' or 'Hatz'. Renaming those unnamed stores will give them character and make people remember them. I'll post more if I can think of any |
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I only have the kv24s stats. Im missing all the rest cause tash deleted them. Kv24 Rifle ammo Damage 5 Rof .177 Spread .26 Recoil .05 |
Oh if I were manager, I would completely revamp this server
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I downloaded iZone the day it was released to the app store (back in December of 2012, I believe) and I went back to Classic after just a short while.
1) The game is confusing. A lot of things I did not understand how to do, I didn't know where to go, and I never liked the idea of admin-bots, just makes it that more difficult to PM someone for help. I tried towering but that confused me, I never really liked the ideas of "ranks" or whatever (I tried joining a tower guild and the leader said I had to be at least two levels above the default rank or something...and it was the first day.) Also, I didn't know how to even change my rank or level or whatever. I also didn't know how to make money. I asked some people and they told me that you have to win in a survivor or something? I don't know. 2) I have spent money on other servers. Yes, I admit, I have purchased a gralat pack every now and then on classic. And while I am still confused on how exactly you can make money on Zone, I'd rather not spend even more money on a server that is confusing to me. 3) I have friends on Classic. Yes, friends who didn't like iZone either. If I was going to join Zone I would have rather joined it with a friend or someone I'm familiar with to possibly help me along with the game. But nobody wanted to go to zone most likely for the same reasons I posted, and when I tried to make friends on zone someone said "show me your most expensive gun and I'll think about it" so that didn't really work out. 4) Originality. Yes, you have player shops (which tbh are quite dead (no offense to Hadi or Jared)) and those are nice and all, but then you completely rip off Classic's gift system...yeah. I think if you were a little more original with these larger events, you would appeal to more people. Lowering the prices on gifts and allowing someone to gift themselves is a cheap way of attracting players from Classic (we had the same system with more expensive gifts, and you were unable to gift yourself, so of course Zone's system would seem more appealing). You're basically saying "Hey, we have the same gift system as Classic, but our gifts are cheaper AND you can gift yourself!" Yeah, no. 5) Balance. This is more of a preference to me rather than an actual problem, but I never really liked the idea of a player possibly having an advantage over someone in terms of weapons. I know this most likely will never change but the reason I like Classic and never play Zone is because everyone in Classic is balanced. (btw I don't even know what 360 shooting is in terms of gameplay or how it affects zone.) 6) The tileset and the HUD (basically the menu) is unappealing. Just like what everyone else has said, the tileset could be better, and so could the HUD. 7) Better GMAP. I'd like to see different towns/cities/areas/etc. with actual names to go with them. Like Ryan said, Classic has Snowtown, Swamptown, etc. Also, why are a bunch of the hat stores all named Hatz? If you gave them different names it would be easier to remember where a certain hat is. Example: "Hey, friend, where did you buy your hat?" "Oh, I got it at Hatz." "Ok...which one?" "I don't know, but I know for sure that it was called Hatz." "But there's a bunch of different Hatz! Do I really need to go look inside all of them?" A preferable scenario would be: "Hey, where did you get your hat?" "Oh, I got it at the Astro Shop." "Cool, thanks!" |
#5 on the list has been drastically improved m8. Youre welcome
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UNIQUE NPCS
I absolutely love having a NPC with lore and background. It adds more flavor to the game. We need to create NPCs that people will remember and think are cool. Sorta like Bernart, he's badass. HOUSES/LIVING QUARTERS But we also need houses and living quarters too that makes it realistic and can add lore to the game in each town there could be a living quarters area, sorta like a military bases? or they can be spread out and applying to a unique story. UNIQUE NPCs. LEVELING UP Leveling up serves no purpose, when really, it should. There should be useful perks that go along with leveling up. Special access to better equipment, opportunities to upgrade weapons, upgrading bots (med bots, mining bots, etc). Just an overall chance to improve your player and items. WEAPONRY Of course there will be holiday related weapons that aren't futuristic whatsoever etc. But I think we should be releasing weaponry that has a special ability and is different. Examples being the Flamethrower etc, but actually done correctly. Also through leveling up, getting certain minerals (more than the current ones), and finishing quests for a required item piece, you should be able to upgrade a weapon to become better than its previous stage. This can allow different weapons being used and create goals for players to achieve. EQUIPMENT Before you say "Oh no, that makes PKing unfair, isnt cool for new players!!" isnt that the point? You can improve your player along the way by becoming stronger and getting new items. It gives players a reason to play and makes them entertained. Of course better equipment is obtainable by leveling up, and special equipment can only be used by certain classes etc. This is in a way ties Zone into an RPG type server, without being too similar to others. |
I still stand by my age old idea of personalized miniature skyworlds. Buy bridge/building pieces from a shop and connect them to your preferences. Upgrade the maximum size of the skyworld using real money, while the pieces are bought using gralats.
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This idea could be expanded into planets rather than towns/zones, with their own alien communities that are either allied, neutral, or enemies. |
I agree with Ryan on the staff, and FYI, im Australian too =[
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The only problem I find on iZone is the fact that the main area/start area and the places around changes every single update... which makes it kinda annoying for me or some other players... also you should broadcast a message if you need some staffs (not sure if you guys do this but il just leave it here)... and Probrably update your hack detection cause sometimes i get false bans for speed hacking...
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What if Zone had different planets with an actual story, background, etc.? All we have are basing planets, this one boring lava planet, Showdown, and I think that's it. Why can't we do more with these planets? Why can't we turn this "Showdown" planet (for example) into something more?
Showdown is this deathmatch arena that's on this planet. I mean, I doubt humanity would look at a planet, heck one that produces oxygen (assuming Graal-people breath oxygen) and only build an arena in it? What if there was some sort of civilization on this planet? Not just humans, but alien species. What if there was a town on this planet, and its main attraction was the Showdown arena? Try fleshing these planets out. Heck, the lava planet could be home to another floating civilization that sends mining operations down to the lava planet. There could be some made-up valuable resource. That could introduce a new job. Imagine having to scavenge for this valuable resource, while surviving on a boiling planet, with hostile wild-life attacking you? What if the Showdown planet actually had some civilization living there? Imagine walking through the streets of this town, seeing these aliens and Graal-people in one town? Expanding on these planets could add exploration, role playing, etc. |
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ok but in all seriousness i like you're ideas ryan, "makes zone seem like some cheap MMO" graal is a cheap mmo.. |
Lmao. Since you're asking for an honest opinion, I'll gladly take this opportunity to get some b*tchiness out.
For iZone to get back on it's feet it needs a complete overload. Something like last year's big update that changed the gmap, but a lot more..not stupid. There's alot of promise in the systems iZone has, but they've just been used stupidly. For instance the whole galaxies interface. There's a lot of promise to add different galaxies and planets. And not just as basing places. There can be an intricate storyline, detailed quests, shops galore (even though iZone is practically already a shopping mall), and as much as the mind can think of. Major idea? Don't know how to thread it in to the current overworld? Blamo. New planet. However this is a hella lot of work, new content to fill up each planet, and every plaet should look different from the others. This work requires a dedicated and experienced staff team, which brings me to my second point. Staff. As much as I'd love to bash on a few of the staff members, I'll save it. Fact of the matter is, the iZone staff team has been decreasing in quality and experienced Developers since the server's beginnings. I'm not saying the staff now are imbociles (well...not all of them at least.), but the development departments seem to be made up of a lot more novices and freshies, than hardened and experienced developers like they once were. The graphics department is one place I'll take a hammer to though. The quality of graphics I'm seeing iZone push out is horrendous. I'm not calling the artists bad, but the amount of artists who are still trying to get on a decent level, who've somehow found themselves on a staff team already, is ridiculous.Too many cartoony artists on the staff team. Are you making a comic or a MMO? (And before you bash, and start saying many games are heavily cartoony, think...it works for them but not iZone, so what the hell is wrong there, huh?) Tileset. The overworld tileset has been a problem for a long time. It's just starting to get even worse now, as the quality around Graal is more or less rising. It looks like a futuristic toy set. Like a Barbie playhouse, but blue instead of pink. Why the hell is it all blue? Cartoony graphics can be good here and there, amazing even. But it doesn't fit zone in large amounts. Hell, Starwars Lego sets look better than iZone. A new tileset needs to be made, and by someone with a style reminiscent, or improved from Zone PC. Or anything rather than cartoony tbh. Trade Tables should be scrapped IMO, and all these little bobbles and trinkets y'all are constantly releasing as items should be stopped. iZone already has it's reputation as a huge shopping mall, don't take the spot of the "come collect items, cuz that's about the only f*cking thing do" server as well. More focus should be placed on pk, basing, questing, big events (not the event house kind), and such. More guns (some more bang bang, with the pew pew.). Use the planet option to a great extent, we should be able to get lost exploring various planets and galaxies for a few days. Those kids that love socializing and trading and collecting various useless knick-knacks don't like it? Screw em. You can't please everyone. Keep them happy? Stay at the 400s (if you've made it that far). Cut the crap and do some serious improvements? Lose their sorry asses, but progress into a higher playercount and a better quality server. There should be a ton of jobs as well, and not crappy "here's 100 gralats for cashing in the trash it took you 15 minutes to collect", but real good paying jobs. You'll say...but oh they'll have too much money with nothing to spend it on. Then make sh*t for them to splurge on, and not crappy show-off items. Guns, special useful items like Zone PC has, stuff like...not to brag...but my Riot Shield. Instead of the sh*tty thing clogging up player's inventories that you decided to release so damn early, it could have been something to revolutionize the basing situation. Heavy impacts, heavy drawbacks. A win hard, or lose bad type of thing. (Personal rage, but a serious issue nonetheless) I can continue this forever, but I'll just cover one last issue. I have no bloody clue what between GhettoIcedTea and the rest of y'all and why he isn't on the Staff Team anymore, but y'all should build a bloody bridge over it, put on your big boy pants and make up. With GIT there was some hope for some good changes to iZone, at least on the firearms level, now y'all are just flopping around stupid as ever. iZone should be a server where you can get lost exploring and questing and what-not for a long time. And after you've figured out everything, still have fun doing it. And scene. My rage is vented. Lemme know if you'd like some more. P.S. Implement food and healing items for f*cks sake. I haven't played in a while of course, but I'm assuming this is still the case. There should be various ways to heal besides a crappy medbot and an expensive ass un-realistic magical staff in the ZC shop. Food, Medpacks and Bandages and sh*t, maybe auto heal turrets that heal when you're in range,can be broken, and work better than crappy medbots. Forcefields that can be broken and then have a cooldown period, god I can go on forever. |
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I didn't thoroughly read every post so I might bring up the same points.
~ I feel like the whole zone tileset and levels could use a makeover. I'm sick of seeing 50 shades of blue. It'd be cool if you guys incorporated more natural/grassy tiles. Because when I think of a land mass floating in the sky I think of a beautiful nature filled world. The water falling off the edges and huge main town with little towns branching off of it. The water for instance is bland and has no details that could be added to make it pop and the water itself is just plain dark blue... e.e ~ I think house packs should be changed too I never really liked them and their so bland and I hate the grass. I just >< ~ THE MAP IS SO HUGE! A lot of buildings can be removed because they literally have no inside. They're half finished. The nature planet isn't technically a planet because it's a psrt of the starting planet. ~ The staff needs to be cleaned out of inactives and people who don't care. I'm not a supreme gfx artist but I can say the hat's I've been seeing make my skin crawl. I'm sure it's not all of the gfx team and I'm sure most are trying hard but I'd like to see something different in style. |
I always felt like pets/robots were lacking uniqueness in iZone. I wish the Pets/ Robots could have different looks and shapes (I mean they dont even look like robots). I would also like to see robots being able to hold weapons and help you with missions, quests etc.
They could something like this: http://images.gizmag.com/hero/mip.jpg |
Zone Insight
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Everything you have stated in there is something i started already. Im seriously becoming incredibly frustrated now because most of the gun ideas i have already started and no one took up the baton and finished it. We were supposed to have an ACTUAL gun shop (not the **** holiday stuff) in december last year and i created an ass load of weapon stats and completely balanced 4 of those and all they need is a code. |
It's been a while since I've last played zone, but from what I know and remember here's what I think needs to be done: (feel free to correct me if any of these have been fixed, but this is my opinion, remember that)
• better F2P model- think of some things that you can do and present them to Stefan, all server managers, pic and mobile alike, should honestly be thinking more of how to make the IAPs more appealing without detracting from gameplay. Almost every manager has failed to do this so far, so if you can pull it off you'll be accomplishing a lot more than just increasing your player count • add some rewards for exploration and expand the world. The game takes place in the future, and space travel is all about exploring new places and finding cool weird things. This is exclusive for iZone too, so make sure you really focus on building an all-star levels team who loves making new maps, cause the server needs a lot of em. • make some other servers' eras an inspiration for the items. Make stuff that looks like it began as an M4 for example, but evolved over several centuries of technological development. And when you do this, don't make them better than the already futuristic guns, please. (I typed these up on my PC so I cant add the bullets) - Make the quests mean something. Have events involving the planets' relations, for example a war between skyworld and maybe the magma world begins, so any quests you do on the planet for its government (like taking out baddies and such) increases your affinity for that faction, contributing to the war. The winner of the war could get a limited time shop with items themed for that world More to come, stay tuned |
I'm just going to post this here, but my argument is in the direction of kenovo's. I also noticed some of my ideas in the first post.
Map ideas: -make towns rather than just malls. (Referencing classic...) -make it smaller. -make start larger. Walking into a pk fest discourages newbies and I know that for a fact. -redo showdown map. -Hire professionals to make a new tileset. Pixel joint is a good place to look. -More trade houses? New level ideas: -Arcade -Bumper cars (Idea by Peaches/Zero) -Npc houses (good for rp and adds depth) Top priority levels to redo: *CASINO - lobby done. -Redo machine rooms + building layout - Remade graphics needed. *Shooting range - has no purpose or functionality, new tiles wouldn't hurt either. *Classes - useless. I've suggested before converting it into a GUI in the main menu. *HOTEL - scrap all levels - revamp. No rush. Spar - needs a more unified layout. Dance shop - extra tiles may be needed Doll shop - extra graphics needed Party shop - could be a lot cooler. Ezio shop - needs a refresh. It's just plain. Gun shops - merge them into one building. Daves deliveries - ew. Recycle - meh. Lottery - just Ew. Divorce lawyer - great concept, bad tiles. Flag/pet slugs - merge together. Fugly levels Mark's furni. shop- feels disorganized-redo. Greasy Paul's Grenades - bad level. Hover boards - needs new concept. Vip pool - looks half assed. And it's plain. |
Bump.
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Make leveling up matter? I don't think being level 11 actually helps me in the game.
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I can't say that I have played iZone that much but I can say that I don't play it because it's so different to the other games, I like the 360 shooting future and alot of other stuff about the game, but for some reason it dosen't seem like a game I would see my self playing, mainly because it's so different to iEra and classic and ol' west.
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Got this idea whilst talking to some friends, and I actually really like it. PLEASE give your feedback and your opinion on it. Maybe it could become reality =)
Skyworld as we know it is completely left behind. Instead all Zonians board onto a giant mothership that would be their home. The Mothership would consist of all inside levels; the GMAP would be a giant space ship interior. Every 1-3 real life days the Mothership discovers a "new" planet for the players to explore. Each planet would have its own species, civilization, terrain, shops, quests, etc. However you only have a few days to explore the planet, because the Mothership needs to take off again. This then would be a reoccuring system similar to this; Stay on the mothership 1-3 real life days, discover a new planet for another 1-3 real life days. Of course no one would enjoy being stuck on a plain space ship for 1-3 days so it would have sections to feed everyone's needs. There could be a PK Arena, sparring section, and all attributes that all other server's GMAPs contain (minimum permanent shops that get updated periodically, etc). We of course could add on other ideas that have been suggested previously in this thread too. Equipment, Leveling Up and becoming better, Factions, and all that nice stuff. But this would just be the base approach to improving Zone. But basically, this was our idea and I feel it would give Zone a much more unique server approach and itd definitely be more entertaining then it is now. Please leave your opinions and add ons! I've also been playing around with a tileset too, so this could be the ships' tileset once i finished and polished it if everyone seems to like it =) Tileset so far: http://i.imgur.com/QMzIJuh.png (if you've ever seen/read Ender's Game, this is where I got most the ideas/general scheme. If you search up on it, they have an awesome battle system interpreted in the book that would be amazing to incorporate into Zone. Could tie into Factions especially.) |
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Am I the only one who doesn't want factions at all?...
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