16-12-2013, 12:38 PM
(This post was last modified: 16-12-2013, 03:19 PM by clickeverywhere.)
Note: For those of you who plan on responding in this thread, please read through the whole post before commenting. And keep it relevant! If you disagree with any suggestions, please write why.
Some of you probably know me and know that I've played this mod for a very long time. In this thread, I wish to suggest a few changes that I feel would improve player experience in Nord Invasion.
Map Design:
1. Access to Nord Spawns: Currently, many maps do not allow you to enter where Nords spawn due to invisible barriers, etc. On normal mode, this can make the game excruciating as a character with weak ranged capabilities. You have to sit around waiting for the bots to come out even though you could easily take on a horde of them. Waves 1-8 on normal mode can be needlessly lengthened. Plus, if a bot manages to get itself stuck in the spawn, the game is over.
2. Larger Nord Spawn Points: There have been a couple of maps already where bots get stuck on things such as tents or inside walls (Swadian Village). This problem would be solved if player could walk into the Nord Spawn. Wait a second, this is the same as point 1! Screw it, assume this post is logical.
3. Distances between Restoration Props: Some maps are very large, and at times, you're fighting near the enemy spawn point and the only health restore is a 30 second walk away (See Swadian Castle). Walking is not fun. Killing Nords is fun. More killing, less walking would greatly improve the experience. Maps like Offshore get this right. There are restoration props spaced out so that there are ones close, medium, and far distance to the spawns.
4. Obviousness of Restoration Props: This feels like a bit of an issue recently. Box props are often used on maps that look essentially the same as ammo refills. Though it adds to the look and feel of the map, it detracts from the player experience. Things like beer in giant barrels or a stack of arrows against a windmill (Swadian Keep) are also often overlooked or difficult to use/see, which leads to my next point.
5. Accessibility of Restoration Props: Some of the props are just fickle to use. You have to look at them in a specific way or from some specific angle. The extra 2-3 seconds you use to find that sweet spot for healing/refilling can add up to a lot of frustration. Please make restoration props easier to use in all circumstances.
Gameplay Mechanics:
1. Faster Enemy Item Despawn: If there were any way to make these despawn more quickly, that would be great. Most of the time players can't even use them, so when Nords die and drop their weapons on the ground they make it both difficult to build barricades, and difficult to pick up useful items. I would assume there isn't a way to determine whether a Nord weapon dropped or a Swadian weapon dropped, so this change might not be feasible.
2. I don't have a second point but it'd look stupid if I only had one point for this section. Why is this even a list?
Improvements for House Administration:
1. When you first make a house, there is a blurb you have to fill out that ends up being what people joining your house see on the accept house invitation page. Sadly, this can not be modified, and it really should be changeable. I know most people don't read it, but still, I know what's there!
2. Member Management: The current incarnation of the memberlist provides very little useful information for the viewer.
2a. Memberlist Ranks: The current ranks you can assign are worthless in terms of providing meaningful information (Sergeant, Soldier, Recruit -- they mean very little especially when people have to move house to house to trade all the time and are reset when the player rejoins). It would be more useful if the only two ranks were "main" and "alt."
2b. Memberlist Information: The memberlist should be comprehensive and provide useful information. Adding player IDs was a step in the right direction, but if class/level/support could be added, that would be swell.
2c. Formatting: Characters under the same serial key should be listed together so the leader can easily discern the alts from the actual number of players.
2d. Tags: Allow us to tag members into separate categories. Instead of having -Sergeant or -Soldier after each name, "Sergeant" and "Soldier" could be a category title. It only needs to be written once.
Administration:
Harsher anti-leeching rules progressive with difficulty level: No mercy for those on Ragnarok. Don't join if you refuse to contribute.
Conclusion:
And so, I hope the devs and mapmakers will take the ideas I have presented here into consideration. This mod is in beta, and this is my feedback. I've written a lot about the map design choices in NI. If my suggestions were implemented, it'd be a lot of work for the mapmakers, but I feel the player experience would change for the better as a result. At the very least, my experience would improve.
Some of you probably know me and know that I've played this mod for a very long time. In this thread, I wish to suggest a few changes that I feel would improve player experience in Nord Invasion.
Map Design:
1. Access to Nord Spawns: Currently, many maps do not allow you to enter where Nords spawn due to invisible barriers, etc. On normal mode, this can make the game excruciating as a character with weak ranged capabilities. You have to sit around waiting for the bots to come out even though you could easily take on a horde of them. Waves 1-8 on normal mode can be needlessly lengthened. Plus, if a bot manages to get itself stuck in the spawn, the game is over.
2. Larger Nord Spawn Points: There have been a couple of maps already where bots get stuck on things such as tents or inside walls (Swadian Village). This problem would be solved if player could walk into the Nord Spawn. Wait a second, this is the same as point 1! Screw it, assume this post is logical.
3. Distances between Restoration Props: Some maps are very large, and at times, you're fighting near the enemy spawn point and the only health restore is a 30 second walk away (See Swadian Castle). Walking is not fun. Killing Nords is fun. More killing, less walking would greatly improve the experience. Maps like Offshore get this right. There are restoration props spaced out so that there are ones close, medium, and far distance to the spawns.
4. Obviousness of Restoration Props: This feels like a bit of an issue recently. Box props are often used on maps that look essentially the same as ammo refills. Though it adds to the look and feel of the map, it detracts from the player experience. Things like beer in giant barrels or a stack of arrows against a windmill (Swadian Keep) are also often overlooked or difficult to use/see, which leads to my next point.
5. Accessibility of Restoration Props: Some of the props are just fickle to use. You have to look at them in a specific way or from some specific angle. The extra 2-3 seconds you use to find that sweet spot for healing/refilling can add up to a lot of frustration. Please make restoration props easier to use in all circumstances.
Gameplay Mechanics:
1. Faster Enemy Item Despawn: If there were any way to make these despawn more quickly, that would be great. Most of the time players can't even use them, so when Nords die and drop their weapons on the ground they make it both difficult to build barricades, and difficult to pick up useful items. I would assume there isn't a way to determine whether a Nord weapon dropped or a Swadian weapon dropped, so this change might not be feasible.
2. I don't have a second point but it'd look stupid if I only had one point for this section. Why is this even a list?
Improvements for House Administration:
1. When you first make a house, there is a blurb you have to fill out that ends up being what people joining your house see on the accept house invitation page. Sadly, this can not be modified, and it really should be changeable. I know most people don't read it, but still, I know what's there!
2. Member Management: The current incarnation of the memberlist provides very little useful information for the viewer.
2a. Memberlist Ranks: The current ranks you can assign are worthless in terms of providing meaningful information (Sergeant, Soldier, Recruit -- they mean very little especially when people have to move house to house to trade all the time and are reset when the player rejoins). It would be more useful if the only two ranks were "main" and "alt."
2b. Memberlist Information: The memberlist should be comprehensive and provide useful information. Adding player IDs was a step in the right direction, but if class/level/support could be added, that would be swell.
2c. Formatting: Characters under the same serial key should be listed together so the leader can easily discern the alts from the actual number of players.
2d. Tags: Allow us to tag members into separate categories. Instead of having -Sergeant or -Soldier after each name, "Sergeant" and "Soldier" could be a category title. It only needs to be written once.
Administration:
Harsher anti-leeching rules progressive with difficulty level: No mercy for those on Ragnarok. Don't join if you refuse to contribute.
Conclusion:
And so, I hope the devs and mapmakers will take the ideas I have presented here into consideration. This mod is in beta, and this is my feedback. I've written a lot about the map design choices in NI. If my suggestions were implemented, it'd be a lot of work for the mapmakers, but I feel the player experience would change for the better as a result. At the very least, my experience would improve.
ba da bing ba da BAN! -Hypernoma
