As to server content, if its low rate, than the caves for getting to 40 should be well developed as you expect pple to stay in them some time, not just a day or two, they should not be glossed over in the spirit that the game starts at 40+ (or 45 or whatever). I personally am traditionalist, I like to see the orig mir caves and mobs in place, like they used to be but you can up spawns to make those old place more lively, challenging, add some new elements like new subs in all low level caves, but don't make new mix of orig mobs like I've seen on arcadia (wolves in bichon province, that kind of thing). I decry even elimination of Natcave, spawns could have been made more lively, exp adjusted btw NC and OC, the latter traditionally has 1F pretty well empty, nobody cares about low level caves, there are so many... being traditionalist, I wouldn't mind moving some caves up the ladder of difficulty because mir has way too many caves for under 40 chars, those latter more modern additions (frogs, should be made for 40-45 levels, up mob strength and exp (and spawns if needed).
Speaking of challenging gameplay, every time I started new char lev1 on any server, official or private, I was disappointed that you pretty well can start off on deer, scarecrows, cats right at lev1, even yetis/omas, as they pretty well don't do much any damage to you. Only hens should be like that, all other mobs you should need to get and use some pots and or get a little higher level (make it some significant initial auto stat increase with level gain). I mean pretty well all pple are not new to mir, they would not get discouraged like five yr olds when they would get killed by a cat at lev1. That said if you listen, don't go overboard and make superman mir LOL
---------- Post Merged at 01:06 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:21 PM ----------
Advise from a developer prospective,
1. Try not to make false promises - stick to what you know and don't release details on things until it is set in concrete.
2. Keep your ground with your choices, although people may dislike your choice at first in the long run they will love your consistency and professionalism. People hate it when something changes mid game (unless it is necessary). Always make something too strong or too little exp/ too low drop rate because it's easy to bring them into line but not so easy when lots of people have leveled off high exp, got easy drops or easy kills ...
3. Try to make it a little unique, yes if you use default databases you have a lot of content already there for you. Maybe change names of monsters or add unique AI, changes maps, add new maps - ...
I like point 1&2 they say in different way what I wrote above plus things I didn't (about starting things off on more difficult side first if you can help it). Point 3 yes but only as regards newer mir additions, or mir3 additions, I like to see traditional mir base, maybe tweaked and added some content but not renaming mir classic mobs or maps.
One change I'd like to see on map subject is to move the new/higher leve cave entrances to outlaying regions of mir, best make also new outdoor province map, not stick them all to WWoods or in the middle of traditional maps where lev5 mobs are outdoors and you step into lev50 cave. On the same note, never liked the area south of border village placement where you go from 'starting point' place to fairly high lev area. I know we don't care much for outlaying caves, places, nobody likes to do long travels to leveling cave when he comes home from work and wants to play mir for couple hours but that can be helped by granting some teleport ability at 40+ and increased at 45+ or whatever, just don't pile it up around bichon wall only (again, that's fine for high rate server but not low rate).
NPC - junk npc if at all, only in higher level maps, like 45+ at least (you don't run danger of bots selling there). Consolidate ring/brace/neck npcs into one with dialog where you click on the kind you want to buy or sell, with back button... that kind of innovation I am fine with as traditionalist. On low rate server don't put high consignment fees or too short period on TM. On chronicles for example, they eliminated the possibility of buying low level items (which are junk for high levels) for pple that joined the server months later or who level slowly. I like big storage too, else you chuck nice low level added stat items which you might have otherwise sold or given to new pple joining server later on - or you can keep your 'junk' on TM offered for sale for months on end and you can put even low level items for low cost there because the fees don't prohibit that. With today's item search working so well on TM I don't see the need for making it such exclusive place where items need turnover and high fees (which as gold sinks hardly help anyway). I'd like to see some way to sell from bag, say right click on item in bag would put the item straight into selling spot and if set to hold, you would sell just by right clicking item in your bag, if that is possible to script. I have tons of ideas like that, these are just off the top of my head.