So I've notice for the past 3-4 years graal has been taking stuff out slowly.
For instances, Guild rewards, one of the soul reasons people towered in classic so
they had stuff to do instead of pking 24/7. That was the core point of when I notice graal was getting to the point of strong changes.

Taking out Pk Rewards, wasn't a big impact but it made pking worth the effort. But now it's what i like to call "clout status points". There's nothing really to do, or say showing for pking.

This is an open discussion, so many things I want to come back. There's been things classic promised such as the Desert Tower near Destiny, the Temple near the forest inside Destiny, More Game Quest so people have things to do.

It just gets to me you know, All this potential being wasted on these small events that last a week. Why put all that effort into a big event
(I understand it gives you guys time to work up for big events for Halloween and holiday events)But it comes to a point to where like you must understand. Classic is at a stand point where it's pking,gst only. The Carnival theme was a great Idea, i love the concept of it. But how about we start knocking out the major updates that should of been done years back.

Once again this is an open Discussion. Please state your own opinion on this.

 

Everyone's noticed graal has (and kinda always has) been going down hill.
We know these things can't be given within a week. We know it takes time. Just keep your promise.

But if Unimax, The staff team, or Whoever is taking advantage of the fact, that the majority of people playing graal Love cosmetics. and that's why we haven't gotten anything truly major, I have every right to be mad and complain.  

is anyone keeping track of how many threads like this we are making  

This has been discussed a lot. And we all know, Classic is just going downhill.nothing will change it because the people who run the game at Unixmad obviously do not give a single **** about you as a player or the games future just as long as it keeps getting them money so they can NOT use it to pay admins and other various staff to freely run their game and act like nothing happens and act like people criticize what they do for no good reason.  

I think they have an update in store but they’re readying it incorrectly. All of the things they wanted to take away, they should have done AFTER the fact, because they have lost many players. I do believe something is planned, but no one is going to want to wait much longer. Even if there was no update and they just felt the need to take away rewards, they should at least maybe change the prerequisites for obtaining those rewards instead of taking them away entirely.  

The castle was pretty awesome. Except it was massive and for some reason you can't ride your horse in there..

Accessories were not needed. They serve no purpose and just serve to limit what players can and can't upload through the systems already in place (shields, bodies, heads).

Carnival games are so glitchy and poorly managed that it could be ditched and no one would shed a tear... I see people abusing the game features in order to win in almost every mini game. Hackers/Glitchers/Forced lag/Pausing...

Capsule machines are interesting... but there's a reason they're banned in some countries.

Box Fort was really cool. And I'm not even a towering person. Just the mechanics in general that were explored showcased very interesting possibilities in the game. More of that please.

There are updates, but the game needs to sort out its money making vision and move on to incorporate that into whatever is in the pipeline going forward.

It feels like there's a few people sitting around and trying to figure out how to make money on it and can't decide what to do so they're throwing everything at the wall at once and seeing what sticks (reducing values of items, 'tweaking' systems already in place and functioning as intended, introducing new gimmicks, messing with the balance/value of in game currency through raising and lowering prices of purchases). ONE PERSON should be in charge of monetizing. Everyone else should sit back and make neat stuff.


Also the community has constantly requested the 'nexus' events that were really popular to become full-on areas in the game world. Stuff like the japanese restaurant, the bucking bronco event, the candy land, space areas, etc... It could all be incorporated in the game and provide content for new players to explore / purchase... but that's just what the players suggest.

So I guess... TLDR:

1.) There are updates
2.) Indecisiveness about monetization is getting in the way of a quality product
3.) Transparency is needed with regards to future updates
4.) Listen to the community instead of a handful of devs regarding what players want to see (read "what players want to pay for")  

No more capsule machines, it’s like sticking your face against a cheese grater and motor boating it

No fun at all  

1. Flag has HP & Countdown Timer.
2. Countdown Timer = 0; Guild in control of the flag wins.
3. HP = 0; flag switches ownership and the countdown timer resets.
4. Guild in control of the flag gets preferable respawn points.
5. Flag HP is controlled by a statistical formula that is tuned to limit rewards to a sustainable level.
6. @Portha: You can continuously improve and eventually license the Flag HP formula (to e.g. SCM researchers, Economic Game Theorists). You can certainly get enough people to try to game the system to provide the data for preventing those strategies, and any and all demonstrable improvements to any basic formula you are capable of making can be profitable in more than one way if viewed from this lens.

The abstract formula is that Flag HP is set to a value equal to the expected Flag HP to use with the expectation that rewards are released at a rate that is sustainable in relation to the in-game economy.  

Posted by deadowl

The abstract formula is that Flag HP is set to a value equal to the expected Flag HP to use with the expectation that rewards are released at a rate that is sustainable in relation to the in-game economy.

You mean like some sort of system to give points to guild member based on towering?

Why not make it register each hit per capture of the flag and distribute 1 point per sword slash to each player contributing? You could scale reward values as the system was worked out, but it would limit the amount each player could get and encourage risky doubling maneuvers, which makes the towering intense and fun (not just camping).  

Posted by 4-Lom

You mean like some sort of system to give points to guild member based on towering?

Why not make it register each hit per capture of the flag and distribute 1 point per sword slash to each player contributing? You could scale reward values as the system was worked out, but it would limit the amount each player could get and encourage risky doubling maneuvers, which makes the towering intense and fun (not just camping).

Or just do it base off how long the tower is being held for, then you gain Honor Points which can be exchange for tower rewards.

Make cool tower rewards people would actually wanna wear, mounts,hats,accessories.
There's so many chances classic can take and route on getting their players back. There was a time classic had 6k-7k players almost daily fun af. Pking was such a great concept at that moment of time.

You could gain 3k-4k pks a day because of all the guilds trying to get hours and get known.
Now towering is just saving up hours for the new guild system. Which is bad on Classic because now all those guilds that kept towering they gonna have to reward a bunch of them at once when the new guild system comes out so it's gonna be a mess.  

Posted by 4-Lom

You mean like some sort of system to give points to guild member based on towering?

Not some sort of system, but a system that both supports variable levels of competition and is also compatible with the controlled in-game economy.

Why not make it register each hit per capture of the flag and distribute 1 point per sword slash to each player contributing? You could scale reward values as the system was worked out, but it would limit the amount each player could get and encourage risky doubling maneuvers, which makes the towering intense and fun (not just camping).

It's easy to game the system in an anti-competitive manner that way, the present system of playing by the hour isn't fun for a lot of people, and a system of partaking in a finite-time (although non-deterministic time) battle is funner than hours of controlling vs not controlling. What I've proposed provides two variables: countdown time (the higher it is the easier it is to mount an offensive and the harder it is to defend) and flag HP (the higher it is the easier it is to defend and the harder it is to mount an offensive), that can be altered to increase/decrease competition as needed. Lots of players contesting a guild fort? Decrease competition. Not enough players contesting a guild fort? Increase competition. Competition can be decreased by raising the flag HP and lowering the countdown timer. Competition can be increased by lowering the flag HP and increasing the countdown timer. Defense can be helped with higher flag HP and a lower countdown time. Offense can be helped with an higher countdown time and lower flag HP. Finally, the rewards can be distributed at a rate consistent with the in-game economy as a result of the control of these two variables.

How guilds are rewarded and how the reward is distributed within a guild is another question. One idea for this I've had is that cumulative guild rewards can be put up toward, among other items, a public overworld-or-underworld customizable (@Portha: $$$) semi-restricted-access guild territory with one guildhouse room assigned per guild member and the rest a common area. The guild territory could then be contested by other guilds that have earned enough in rewards to put up a challenge of any guild with an exclusive territory. I.e. the exclusive guild territory is also a fort. If the contesting guild wins, they are allowed to toss any and all the other guild's furniture aesthetic and replace it with their own (@Portha: $$$), or they could just decide they really like it otherwise and just rearrange the furniture.

Along with that you could re-purpose historic guild sanctuaries to the overworld or underworld, like MoD, US, Ventrue, Brotherhood, LOA and maybe even JesusFreaks, and make access to certain restricted areas in those territories a prize that comes by winning enough rounds with any particular guild there.

A layered experience I guess I would say. But first and foremost is competition at the guild towers. Then the reward system. And then a tie-in between the rewards system and tiered competition I think would be a big plus. That's a big vision though, and competition at the baseline of guild fort experience is really the most important aspect.

Edit: Oh, what would be cool in addition to that is to, in a library in the guild house, keep a historical catalog of guild info for any guild that ever challenged and guilds that were in possession of the guild territory. Also, the guild territory should have the advantage of being able to order (@Portha $$$) any piece of furniture ever used in their guild house in any room via the Babord Home & Living Personal Storage Facilities, even if it's not available to the general public anymore (@Portha $$$).

Oh Edit PS: Make a post office where players at large can receive mail. Heck, offer post office boxes for a fee and require every Graalian have a mailing address or get taxed extra. Create a mail order catalog called the Babord Home & Living Mail Order Catalog. This catalog may be released semi-annually or by another period. You can make part of the Babord economy involve players delivering anything ordered from the Babord Home & Living Mail Order Catalog, carrying things to a delivery vehicle (or boat, or train, or pigeon, or final destination, etc) for customers at the Babord Home & Living Factory Outlet. Heck, you could even get the Babord jobs to give pay raises based on how efficient and productive each employee is.

Edit 2: And among the delivery tasks: deliver new benches or refurnish the dance floor at Azrael's. Monthly spar champ at Supernick's gets a say in the floor and furniture there.  

Posted by deadowl

Wall of text

Well I like the idea of useful guild locations. The towers definitely feel dead/lifeless, like there's no use in taking them over except getting little rewards (hats).

I think this would require more of a union of guilds in order to accomplish effectively, though, just based on the number of players of the game. Having a few thousand players online at a time (the majority of which have nothing to do with competitive behaviors) would make it a little unreasonable for people outside a single guild of 25 or 50 members having exclusive access to a specific feature in a game.

Special stores, items, or rewards for participating in the system should be balanced and not absolutely inaccessible to the majority of the community.  

Posted by 4-Lom

Well I like the idea of useful guild locations. The towers definitely feel dead/lifeless, like there's no use in taking them over except getting little rewards (hats).

I think this would require more of a union of guilds in order to accomplish effectively, though, just based on the number of players of the game. Having a few thousand players online at a time (the majority of which have nothing to do with competitive behaviors) would make it a little unreasonable for people outside a single guild of 25 or 50 members having exclusive access to a specific feature in a game.

Special stores, items, or rewards for participating in the system should be balanced and not absolutely inaccessible to the majority of the community.

It's not exclusive per se. It's more like a title belt feature where you gotta hand it off to the next guy if they challenge you successfully. You know, not unlike a a statue and a space for your name in the history of sparring tournaments for winning a monthly sparring tournament. I imagine you can probably request specifics for the statue's appearance; hat, sword, shield, pose and such, kind of like in the same way you could customize the furniture in a guild house.

Just thought of another amazing possible feature. In the library with the history books, have the NPC Server or a bot record the battles for control of a guild house, record and serve up access to videos of the battles in the publicly accessible guild house library. Would also be cool if they did this with sparring tournaments.