I need some help and feedback from the players and public.

[Drakiyth]

There have been some recent changes lately that I have made that has hurt the population of Varlyndria and I felt it was something I had to do as much as I knew it would piss some people off. Numbers were getting too high for how young the server is, and I had to do something about it. It was a rookie mistake to make things too high in the first place without proper preparation of the source code, this is after all my very first server and I feel I really screwed up on some things. That's going to happen though right? Like when Neo in the Matrix didn't make the jump over the simulated building on his first try.

I please ask that you tell me how you feel on our forums under the Game Polls section because I would really like to read your opinion and how you observe things and possibly take some of that feedback if it's well thought-out and roll with it. If you own a server I don't expect you to help me which I am technically your opponent. I get it. However we are a community here and that should mean we can come out like this and ask for some help when we need it once in a while, yeah? I'm sure I speak for the entire community when I say being a dev can be very stressful sometimes.

Thank you all and I wish the best to all of the devs out there that have gone or will be going through this one day. I've put in thousands of hours into Varlyndria, and I've wanted nothing but the best for it and its players.

I couldn't of done it without your generous donations and help. I really couldn't have and I thank every last person who lent a hand to the cause over all these months since Varlyndria came out last year.

[Secrets]

Originally Posted by Drakiyth

There have been some recent changes lately that I have made that has hurt the population of Varlyndria and I felt it was something I had to do as much as I knew it would piss some people off. Numbers were getting too high for how young the server is, and I had to do something about it. It was a rookie mistake to make things too high in the first place without proper preparation of the source code, this is after all my very first server and I feel I really screwed up on some things. That's going to happen though right? Like when Neo in the Matrix didn't make the jump over the simulated building on his first try.

I please ask that you tell me how you feel on our forums under the Game Polls section because I would really like to read your opinion and how you observe things and possibly take some of that feedback if it's well thought-out and roll with it. If you own a server I don't expect you to help me which I am technically your opponent. I get it. However we are a community here and that should mean we can come out like this and ask for some help when we need it once in a while, yeah? I'm sure I speak for the entire community when I say being a dev can be very stressful sometimes.

Thank you all and I wish the best to all of the devs out there that have gone or will be going through this one day. I've put in thousands of hours into Varlyndria, and I've wanted nothing but the best for it and its players.

I couldn't of done it without your generous donations and help. I really couldn't have and I thank every last person who lent a hand to the cause over all these months since Varlyndria came out last year.

Drakiyth,

I want to personally thank you for being the first person that 'gets it' when it comes to high and out-of-whack numbers on servers.

Prior to this post, I don't think I have seen a single server besides maybe THF that has not balanced their game properly to fit the source code that they are running and end up using hp/mana/endur/damage reduction as a direct upgrade path. Unfortunately, it takes a bit of learning to understand that, and you have experienced that -- and the best part is you have learned from it by making a decision like this, on your own, without anyone else telling you.

If you feel regret about balancing your server to the point where stats are not out of whack, do not feel that way. You did what is right to make your server stand out from the rest of the crowd... I haven't even played your content recently and I know the fact that you experienced that feeling makes your server stand out from the crowd.

f you own a server I don't expect you to help me which I am technically your opponent.

That's the problem with most server owners that come into this community now a days; they regard population as a sacred thing and do not want to help anyone else, and if you do the wrong thing they try and capitalize and make you panic and try and 'hold your population'.

Instead, do not fall victim to this trap, there are plenty of people who develop code and do not host a server that are more than willing to give feedback because they've been in the same boat at some point. Furthermore, if someone is trying to hold population, they are doing that out of fear. Don't be afraid of the community; not all of us are bad apples.

I wish you nothing but luck with your rebalancing, Drakiyth, and I encourage people to play on your server after reading this post to give it a second try. If it is rebalanced to fit the source code, I have no doubts it will be a fun experience.

[Armm]

It is VERY hard to balance a server properly. I understand there is a large percentage of the crowd that wants the sugar rush of leveling to 100 with an epic in 30 minutes, plenty of servers they can go to for that.

I think balance and mechanics are as or more important than content simply because if you build content on broken mechanics, its like building a house without a foundation.

Build what you think is right and fun, and most importantly challenging. The quality of your population will reward you if not your quantity.

[Jahar_LoA]

I'm new to the side of running your own server, but what these two have said is good advice, Drakiyth. I'm finding this out myself in my first project, and balancing is very difficult. I do with you and your server alot of luck, I do hope players return.

[Teholb]

Hmm. I seem to recall telling you, along with many other posters on your forums, that this exact issue would soon arise. Then your fanboy hounddogs attacked, and you started deleting threads.


Good to see you're at least willing to admit you made a mistake. Most people can't own up to that.

[Tabasco]

It's kind of ironic that one of the biggest problems custom eqemu servers end up with is that they ultimately descend into the current state of live EverQuest.
Even when you take things slow and try to maintain a reasonable scale, it can just sneak up on you.

Make your server the way you want it. Do what needs to be done and hope other people enjoy what you enjoy. Don't get discouraged and don't give up if you still have an unrealized vision of what you want.

[Mariomario]

One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give you is look ahead. Look at where you want your content to go and then think to yourself 'Can I expand on this?" If you can't, then maybe think about how you can scale it down. Consider the ramifications when you implement something how it affects everything around it.

Right now I can say one of your biggest problems is your pet classes are SUPER overpowered. I play a Terrorizer and even as a 'tank dps' role its pointless for me to swing for 4-6k when my pet quads for 50k a hit. Think about your ratios.

Another portion is testing your own content before you release it. As a developer and an OCD control freak I have to play my own content before anyone else. If by myself Im taking 5 minutes to kill a boss encounter its probably going to go down in 45 secs with 6 people which means I need to rethink the encounter. I found out this is the easiest way to polish before release. Yes I understand everyone is going to have bugs no matter how many times they test and retest, but ensuring a good working version is put out there minimizes bad feedback about broken or unusable content.

I also may have a solution with your pets and a better way to balance them than adding in ridiculous amounts of Pet Power focus. Ill send you a PM with my thoughts. You have put in countless hours of work and it definitely shows, you just need to think about where you want to go with your content before you start to develop it, not just throw some stuff together. As they always say, quality not quantity.

[Drakiyth]

I appreciate all the responses and replies everybody. It has helped a lot to read all of your input. Thank you.

[Davood]

Originally Posted by Tabasco

It's kind of ironic that one of the biggest problems custom eqemu servers end up with is that they ultimately descend into the current state of live EverQuest.
Even when you take things slow and try to maintain a reasonable scale, it can just sneak up on you.

Make your server the way you want it. Do what needs to be done and hope other people enjoy what you enjoy. Don't get discouraged and don't give up if you still have an unrealized vision of what you want.

I agree with you on that.

I've spent a considerable amoutn of time fussing over how to deal with inevitable mudflation from massive amounts of content. I developed a temporary power reduction system based on what you have access to tier wise and whicha ctual zone you are in, it seems to work out nicely with the better geared players having only a slight advantage in older zones as their newer gear doesn't even work there at their temporarily lowered levels abd abilities.

that said, very few people are willing to give feedback to developers, and alot of developers (as indicated above) tend to have a authoritarian attitude towards their magical vision of how things should be.

that is a fallacy for two reasons

1) you are providing a service to people who must be satisfied
2) you are not the only game in town
3) the client (or the customer) is always right, they decide who succeeds by logging in and generating a community

any feedback is to be treasured
when a user gets angry at me and sends me an angry PM or email that indicates the following:

1) the user is invested in my server
2) they care about it enough that it has evoked an emotional reaction
3) if i can regain their trust, they will be a valuable "client"

alot of people make the mistake of saying "you are dissing me so f you im gonna diss you back" and the situation devolves into a value-less exchange where the quiet lurkers who may have spoken up with their own suggestions are now silenced and will move on elsewhere.

anyways

<3 to all server devs and players, but seriously don't engage in fights, take a hostile post and pretend there is person on the other end with a genuine concern... google CSM (customer service management) and learn about it - .

that said there are cases of genuine malignancy, simply evade and block, do not engage. repeat, do not engage.