Low activity in HUB atm - Potential threat

[nlnforever]

Note: I am posting positively, contributing comments so HUB can succeed and alive in the future.

After few first days after HUB's introduction, we can see that people are less interested in joining the arena. It reminds me the Fort PVP system on EU, was very alive first month, but no one does Fort Event anymore. When we analyse this situation, it seems not too hard to understand about this issue:

- Community has the budget to spend on this PVP activity and HUB is collecting 20% from this activity, not only once but over and over again. Hence, after a given time, the budget becomes smaller and smaller, there will be lesser players involving in this pvp activity. Until not much peds left in this budget, the HUB will be dead.

Please understand that this is real issue, and it will happen because we have limited number of players and limited amount of peds spending on this activity. We all know that EU does not have hundred thousands of players, so this is the issue that need to be looked at seriously.

What would be the solution for this issue?
* Reduce the amount of peds that HUB takes away: 20% seems too much at the moment. Reducing the amount to 10% or even 5% will make the budget last longer, hence we may have more new players join in to inject more peds into this program. If the losing peds from the community is less than or equal to the money injection from new players, the program can keep running.

* Enhance the loot, so the community can sell or exchange the loot for extra peds from outside to inject more peds into HUB. I'm not sure about the power given to Cyrene team on this to make this possible. But if the community can use tokens to exchange for items which are useful outside HUB, there will be more peds injected into the HUB and make it running.

* Introduction of Jackpot: aye, global or HOF of tokens are not bad idea. Only 1% from the entry cost can make a nice HOF, and the community will keep playing HUB because of that jackpot.

* Introduction of mobs in Hub: make HUB a new hunting ground, and only HUB PVP Weapons can be used to hunt mob, HUB will be alive for sure.

I'm run out of ideas now. But the future death of the HUB is very possible, without new source of peds injected into the HUB community, the death of HUB is certain.

 

[Sandra Sandy Heyder]

jep, hub being a hunting ground too, is really good. and they are already planning on that from what ed3 said.

Edit: Hub being a hunting ground too, is not only good, its an absolute MUST to keep the hub alive. because then, people can do something in the hub while waiting for opponents.

 

[Lykke TheNun]

Hi nlnforever,

Thanks a bunch for a lot of very interesting and thought through suggestions for the Hub

I believe, but might be wrong, that a lot of people are waiting for the mini-patch on Tuesday to make sure other players in the Hub are not using plates.

Also, the Hub is not all 'finished' yet - but is, as the rest of Cyrene, only in it's 'soft launch stage' - the place will develop with time - and so will the content.

 

[Immortal Banana]

Where exactly is this "Hub" place? :S

 

[Sub-Zero]

I think lowering the cost will be key to the hub for lasting success. Maybe only pay 5% the decay of the pvp item you're using. Because if you think about it, the decay adds up. Eventually people will stop going there, because nobody is gonna waste all their peds on the hub. Unless as the OP said: Add chance to a jackpot. Or better rewards, possibly certain items usable outside the hub. But lowering cost should be highest priority. Many PvP gamers will love to play at the hub. But only if it doesn't cost them so much at 25 pec arena. So lowering the % of decay would be a great idea. Because you can die so easily in the hub. 3-4 hits and you're goner. You can heal for 40, but then you're an open target. Since you cannot change to your weapon again until the fap has recharged it's cd. And by then you're already dead since the fap at the TT has slow use per min.

@ Immortal, go to the teleporter then select the Planet drop list, choose "The Hub". And teleport there.

 

[nlnforever]

As from my analysis, it does not matter how many people are there waiting for HUB to be fixed, the number of players in this game is limited. Even if you can attract 10k of players into HUB, it only lasts 2-3 months , eventually the community is run out of peds for HUB.

In conclusion, without Jackpot to provoke Greed from players, without Peds from Outside injected in to HUB community, HUB will be dead. Number of players do not matter in this issue.

 

[Slasha]

its pvp, people will always find a way to tip the balance , even after the patch people will still be ganging up in there . I dont think its the fee to enter, its the loss of it to another player too many times that makes people not want to continue after curiosity is satisfyed.

 

[Sammy]

Where exactly is this "Hub" place? :S

In a TP use the drop down box (like when you look for space etc) then you find the Hub

 

[Divide D. Impera]

its pvp, people will always find a way to tip the balance , even after the patch people will still be ganging up in there . I dont think its the fee to enter, its the loss of it to another player too many times that makes people not want to continue after curiosity is satisfyed.

Exactly this. I tried it, I died, I kept on dying, I realized I was dying armored by a naked guy, I turned off the game and turned on a movie.

 

[Szent]

I think one of the biggest problems is RIGHTCLICKING.

People new to pvp in entropia have no idea about this thing. They would surely have a better chance if it werent for rightclicking. A person who have experience in other shooters would have a fairly good chance if it werent for that. They join the arena, get kicked so hard thinking they suck, or that its laggy or whatever and give up.

Ofcourse one could try to explain to every person they meet in the arena how it works. But that shouldnt be necessary.

And besides that. IF everyone knew about rightclicking, and how to do it. It still ruins the experience. Before the "rightclicking era" PVP was alot more dynamic, or what you call it. You would sidestep, jump around, hiding behind objects, to avoid getting shot. That was so fun. And you would have to try and aim at your target BEFORE you shoot. Now you just jump around your target spamming the right mousebutton as fast as you can. And the one who can click fastest and have less lag mostly wins.

I heard they are working on disabling right click in the arenas. Hope its true. I just hope its not too late

 

[nlnforever]

Hub is dead.

Yup, please don't smash me. But it's really dead now. Between 03:00 - 07:00 MA time, HUB is completely empty. I'm pretty sure that there are still players at different time, but not that many. Hub is dead, and it will be dead in the future if there is no change in the "core" of the system.

New maps? New paying out system? Even if we have Mech Suit Arena, it won't make HUB alive longer. It's all about the money that people spend on HUB. As I say, there is a "group" of HUB players and there is a budget attached to it. If that budget becomes smaller and smaller overtime, the group stop playing.

Only one solution that will make HUB alive and kicking in the future: the HUB players must have CASH INJECTION from OUTSIDE. How? Two methods:
* Rewards from tokens exchange must be useful for outside use. So HUB players can sell the rewards for premium price.
* Add mobs to the hub, therefore we can kill mobs while pvping others.

Honestly, I think Cyrene team won't look at my analysis seriously. Too bad.

 

[Ed Robles 3]

Hello Ninforever, we appreciate any and all feedback about Cyrene. We do pay attention and have noted all of the posts and comments provided by yourself and the other players. The game is still in soft launch and we expected the player to come in, check it out, give feedback and possibly lose interest in the Hub. We actually did not expect the amount of players that we had when we first started. We always figured PVP was not something the current players enjoyed much as per the forum posts on other forums and posts about PVP in EU. We have been working on the Hub concept for about 4 years now, so we have a lot we want to try out and show the players before we deviate from our core concepts and plans. Many of the things mentioned are things we have planned and will go into effect once we go with our hard launch. Right now our main concern is to provide a great place for the players to improve their PVP skills. We think PVP on Cyrene will become a top E Sport for players that enjoy this type of PVP action.

We will hold many contests, tournaments and events (such as creature spawns etc) in the near future. We need to launch our PR campaign and attract many new players to Cyrene in order to truly make this all work. The Players who are currently playing, they are taking advantage of what we have provided and made rare for the game (during this soft launch). They will be the ones who benefit the most from the soft launch and we feel it's a good balance the way it is currently(not too many players). Too many players (as we had before at the start) would flood the planet with too many of the token weapons and reward tokens before the hard launch goes live. So really, to those who are in now, they will reap the benefits in the future (and that's how we feel it should be for those who pioneer). The same goes for those currently exploring on Cyrene. There are things currently on Cyrene that are accessible in a very easy manner. Once we get going though, these areas will become extremely difficult to get to, and rarity will take hold of items we are shocked to see in the AH in the quantities that they are currently. Still we think it's a good thing because it will defiantly help kick start the planet and help out those players who are putting in the time and effort.

Our plan for the near future is to make sure that the Right Clicking option in PVP is removed, as it takes away from the skill side of the game. We also plan to improve our maps with added features and graphics optimization and release a 1v1 map option. You will also see additional weapons and armor for the next content patch along with some other Cyrene content and adjustments.

Due to a lot of work by the players since soft launch, we are also going to be bringing in one of the Second Hand Turrelion NPC's (The other must still be unlocked at the Turrelion Outpost currently now held by the dusters) to provide some non Hub gear (purchased with reward tokens). This gear will not be able to be used in the Hub but will be able to be used on Cyrene. The Second Hand Turrelions are two NPC's that will require certain events to start unlocking their rewards. The other will not be available until the Turrelion Outpost is fully controlled by the Turrelions once more. Their items will be available for certain times and some may never be seen again. It is how we connect the Hub to Planet Cyrene and is just one of the many exciting way the players will have a dramatic effect on how things happen.

With all this said, I am not to saying "Do not continue to post your comments because we will not listen.", but rather to assure you that we have a plan set. We need to maintain certain aspects of the game the way they are in order to continue our operations but we will also offer up many more variations in order to fit all of the players needs.

 

[Luckycharm]

The big pain is the NeoPsion extraction here. Paying 4 ped after each visit to re-insert just like in Ancient Greece isn't really a pleasure lol.

 

[Lykke TheNun]

The big pain is the NeoPsion extraction here. Paying 4 ped after each visit to re-insert just like in Ancient Greece isn't really a pleasure lol.

I have been told, that it's back in after a re-log, Luckycharm - perhaps try that ?

 

[MindStar 9]

The big pain is the NeoPsion extraction here. Paying 4 ped after each visit to re-insert just like in Ancient Greece isn't really a pleasure lol.

My understanding is, that when you come out of The Hub, the NeoPsion goes back into your inventory and back into your head, but you need to relog for that to take place, and it doesn't cost you anything.

Unless something has changed ... there's only one way (I think) that what you're experiencing happens, and that's if you sign out while in The Hub? Not sure, so someone would need to verify that for me.

Edit:

Lykke got to your post before I did, I had her in Skype and she was going off to rest so I thought I would help with info, but she said basically what I did.

 

[jetsina]

Thanks for the detailed answers above:
My NeoPsion20 (or whatever is 1 up from basic one) did not reappear in my head after relog, and is still not in now. I believe I did relog in the middle hub room (between main hub and actual fighting area). It is now sitting in my inventory...

Also, the fap cost is full in the revival room I think, not 1/10th, which will obviously also affect many ppl, and I think I got messages about the costs every time I died.

Great to see 1v1 is planned - maybe a 'reward' for winning through a few of these sections is to come out into the main group area with a small tactical advantage (but calls for very creative level design maybe...).

Also, maybe add small rewards like at the oil rig or at the Thing final destination so that there is a reason to be in an almost empty pvp area (or mobs with vu loot), which will encourage others to join no matter how many ppl are already in an area. Maybe also actually state the number of ppl within before you enter an area? (the stats on instances look as though they might be able to provide a simple infoscreen for this purpose?)

If you rework the system, please make info CLEARLY available so that ppl give it a second try!
I'm not a fan of PVP in space as it is, but it is good to have a wide range of options available for different tastes.
I thus wish you all the best with the Hub!

____
Also, as this is the better thread, I'm copying other post over to here: hope that is ok:
Anyway, I like the hub idea, but there are problems which need work on I believe. my suggestions.

Jumping in blind may be a good way to throw ppl into losing their tokens a few times, but I think people should be able to choose a place and right moment to enter instead. This could be by having a wall to drop down from around the edge, for example, into various routes of a maze-like area, maybe.

Groups will always have an advantage over individuals, and I'm not sure how this can be catered for at all. One theoretial way may be to have sections in which only 2 ppl can be at the same time, and in a sort of sequence up towards some 'reward' area, or so. To stop 2 friends from blocking a section, maybe one must kill the other within a minute of activating a 'fight' by both being in the zone, or so... maybe a non-fight results in both players being put back a level in parallel tracks a level below where they were... the incentive is thus to fight and move up!

Also, maybe winning more than 5 times or so (also balance of wins:losses) may force a winner to move up a stage, i.e. challenge a player next up in the 'ladder' of a maze of levels. I realise this may need some clever level design, but my idea may be a good base for a brainstorming and implementation session. This idea is purely my own - I have not seen or heard of anything like this anywhere before!

 

[psychnosiz]

Thanks for the detailed answers above:
Also, the fap cost is full in the revival room I think, not 1/10th, which will obviously also affect many ppl, and I think I got messages about the costs every time I died.

No reason to fap in the Revival room, move close to the barrier and you'll be healed by the room.

Maybe better to wait with rewards untill the pvp system is running smoothly. Rooms are running empty now, more rooms will only spread out the remaining players even more. Teams are hard to counter but if it annoys several people maybe the non-teamers could team up too to clear the team out of the room. There are also event(s) running on Calypso so the big crowd isn't paying attention yet, which is great to have some time to take the flaws out of the system.

So really, to those who are in now, they will reap the benefits in the future (and that's how we feel it should be for those who pioneer).

That would be cool.

 

[Ed Robles 3]

Yes Luckycharm, we are asking for this to be fixed, but because of the way the Hub works I am not sure how fast it will get done.

And yes as Psychnosiz pointed out, there is an instant heal you get before you go into the arena.

 

[Yquem]

I have been told, that it's back in after a re-log, Luckycharm - perhaps try that ?

not true for me - payed the fee to insert it back in.

 

[Sub-Zero]

What do you think of adding an arena, where you only use your fists to fight? Fight Club ftw. Only available weapon on that arena is a power fist or in this case (Psy-BladeXX). You can't use any other hub weapons/other world weapons in there, or any fap. In that arena you will be teleported to a small room, where you would have to fight vs the other player. Both start at same hp, 150 (So the fight last longer). Perhaps add some objects, which you can jump over to, in order to keep it interesting. Damage wise the power fist could be like 4.0-8.0 damage and 90/90 attacks per min, this way the fights will last a bit longer, and it's more fun. It's a shame there isn't a way to do different attacks, like do a kick maybe the weapon will do a kick if you hold mouse 1 for X second. And if you just click once it will do a punch. Would for sure be a lot more fun this way in this arena. It's a bit strange that you can only use one hand in my opinion you should be able to use both, but the animation would pick at random each hand, only one at a time.
In this room there will be several of them available, if the room is occupied, and you enter the room, you would be teleported to room number 2 ect. Perhaps make a terminal that shows all available rooms, and if they have any players on. Then player can choose which room to go to in this arena.

This same idea can be applied to other 1 vs 1 arenas, and how about a Mindforce only death match arena? That would be cool! Same with an arena out in space (No other players can go there of course, except if you got there by the hub, and paid the stuff needed) Which could be a Space craft from Cyrene, buy ammo ect, to join this arena, first you need to sign up your spaceship into the arena, let's say for example max 5 ships per (1 ship per player) "Battle". You can see the amount of players on each crew in a terminal of this arena, and who has a space craft, then you can choose either to be part of the crew of that particular player (Limit like 5 players on each crew) or make your own crew (If there is room still). Then we could have a space battles, without any risk of losing any loot, (since it's only pvp, not lootable pvp). The way to win would be to be to survive against all other ships, or "dealt the most damage". There can be a time limit too, like maybe 1 hour idk you guys decide that . You can also add "Rounds", like 2 rounds of 30 min instead, the one who dealt most damage total for that round would win, and 5 min break (To regroup, go to bathroom ect). Once you get killed you would be teleported back to the arena you were in. And your spacecraft would be returned to your inventory but: you cannot join again until the round is completed.