Changing Willard's HL2RP: The Case for a Wipe & More

[Merlinsclaw]

OR!!! Another hard occupation server set in a loyalist city in the middle of the combine regime. yeah let's do that instead.

OH BOY!

Another hard occupation server in the middle of the combine regime? Sign me up!

 

[ShadoWiz4rd]

still waiting for a custom lore post-occ server (100-200 years later) with various warbands of hyper souped-up synths and new OTA variants led by several scattered and disconnected advisors who have taken hold of various defensive strongholds around the world

each advisor would have its own legion of different types of synths created from native earth/xen flora and fauna and would work to achieve different goals. some would try to re-establish connections by any means necessary. some would rebuild something resembling a city. some advisors could be loyal, while some could go insane from being disconnected from the regime and work for their own gain -- raiding nearby settlements and taking slaves to stalkerize or turn into transhuman operatives. hell, add some grimdark. human farms for OTA operatives and meat farms for neural biomass to use as data centers (HLA did this already on a small scale)

the remnants of humanity would suffer from routine antlion and advisor warband attacks but over time they've reverse-engineered combine technology to achieve previously-impossible feats like antlion grub farming for biogel (regenerative healing and biological immortality for the rich) and repurposed scanners/manhacks for maintenance work. not to mention the new weaponry created from reverse-engineered combine tech (see the thunder's leaves mod for some inspiration)

some human societies have completely forgotten the evils of the combine. some even worship the advisors like gods, using old breencast transcripts as holy scripture. mimicking what they perceive as what the combine would have done if their plan wasn't thwarted. augmentation, brainwashing, etc. these religious fanatics would be arguably even worse and more brutal than the remaining advisors

think fallout but instead of nuclear war it was the 7 hour war and combine occupation. sprinkle in some 40k inspiration and you have something that could be kino

and no it wouldn't be like .dust it would be like at least 100 years after the occupation to give a reasonable timeframe for humanity to recuperate and for advisors to rebuild mini feudal empires

OR!!! Another hard occupation server set in a loyalist city in the middle of the combine regime. yeah let's do that instead.

Actually sounds pretty metal, I like it.

Post occ rp or bust.

feudal earth where advisor warlords fight over africa agianst human raiders and antlion colonies

 

[verTix]

and stop doing 24/7 slice-of-life servers because they have no substance and they end up dying out too quickly, especially with custom settings like the one outlined above. you cannot rely on players to create interesting scenarios in these settings because players are retarded and only consume instead of create

get off your ass, write a plotline, write outlines for every day/week the server is up, and execute them one by one to form a cohesive story

maybe the server has some slice-of-life elements. maybe not. but create some urgency regardless. "This server will only last X months, so don't miss out!" that attracts people. it really does

know the entire plotline of the story of the server before it even begins. tell the players that they can influence the outcome, but don't tell them by how much because players are retarded and will actually pick the worst options 100% of the time

 

[RogueSynapse]

Honestly whatever ends up happening change wise to the server, all I ask is this:

Make people actually work for things.

Weapons, political status, luxury, leadership positions, everything.

Stop with the easy hand-outs for things, make people actually play the server to get the things they want. What do you sell to the man who has everything he wants?

 

[RedHotGinger]

nO dOn't wiPe thE seRveR I dOn"t waNt tO loSe my fAncy sUit aNd aLl mY sCriPts!

 

[TheGoodHunter]

Willard genuinely needs a hard reset when it comes to the lore and what has already been established. There are servers that I am in currently that does a wipe every now and then to make things fresh and exciting, whether it’s for the gameplay or the roleplay itself. Willard needs the roleplay wipe aspect considering what has been mentioned in this post. When I was in CT, it was pretty common for people to say that the lore is pretty lackluster for Willard when it came to random shit on the world map or random organizations no one really cares about (eg. “the patriots” uhh… wtf are they and why should we care?). Things like these that come out of the blue with barely any RP/lore backing them up kinda sucks.

The lore should be completely wiped and redone by the Creative Team, a LARGE roleplay wipe should be done to get rid of all pre-existing characters one way or another to make things new and fresh. Staff already tried doing this when District Nine first came around, though returning characters damaged the economy and the “newness” of the server, making things the exact same as where we had left off.


An example of what I am talking about is a fallout rp server I am staffing for currently, claymoregaming. We recently switched the map from the Mojave to Utah, of which the server would reverse back a few hundred or so years. This basically meant anything that happened last wipe hasn’t happened yet and you weren’t allowed to roleplay as pre-existing characters, allowing for a completely renewed economy, famous characters, and actually good factions. NO ONE was exempt from the RP wipe and you could say a lot of factions were damaged in the process, though it was vital to keep things new.




In conclusion: Wipe the lore, wipe the RP aspect of the server and move the date to the past. This will make playing on the server refreshing and you’ll have a better experience that will fix almost 80% of the problems listed on this thread. I know you’re looking at this RAD-X, and I know you were willing to do it at some point, but now is the time to greatly consider with deep thought.

 

[RogueSynapse]

View attachment 17979

Maybe the Strawman will give us a narrative that doesn't rely on expeditions.

 

[Hiros]

I personally don't like post occupation setting because I can't image how well it would work in roleplay scenario. I don't think it's even possible to keep people entertained for long time and eventually it will feel like Star Wars RP where armed groups wait for events or it will turn into WW3RP

I wouldn't say soft wipe is good solution if there will be wipe it should be hard wipe or none.

Regarding lore wipe. I would personally just wipe certain events that don't make sense and just void them completely such as some lore organizations or how certain factions work. But I believe Rad will do something that we will like so give it some time. Not reopening in current status is good sign since it's clear that Rad acknowledges the issues that we're facing

 

[BrennenW05]

(eg. “the patriots” uhh… wtf are they and why should we care?).

The one you decide to point out is the one that actually makes sense, i would have gone with the SRF, LFC, or the ESIC, those are some the dumbest parts of the lore to be honest

 

[Ekrell]

Reject modernity, embrace I17 and rave.

 

[Fallizs]

Wipe the server(!) This is a big jump, and is likely to be controversial, but don't slam it to hard yet. A hard reset is (maybe) what Willard needs. It'd put everyone back on equal footing, reset the circlejerks, and provide the mysticism of HL2RP again, especially if things fundamentally changed (see Gameplay changes). Get rid of things like radiobob, bob and bonk soda, and the other stupid shit. Put us on a new map, with new lore, and a new setting. Let everyone rebuild Willard again (this time with a few lessons of what not to do).

nah bro my fav server of like 60 a day wiped and then turned like 10 a day and then shut down forever

 

[Rabid]

I've said it before and I'll say it again; it is easier to get a massive coding change done than it is to get some RP restrictions loosened.

Much of this was writing on the wall in late 2021 and it was met with, basically, "If you don't like it don't play then, we can do it better" from the staff of the time - in fact it was openly admitted in private by a former SD that anyone who raised complaints was seen as a trouble maker and literally ignored.

Shockingly the staff team could not in fact make up for the creative playerbase they had and only succeeded in driving them off and killing the momentum they could have taken advantage of.

As for unbans? No. Not only will it reek of desperation but most of the shit people got banned for was the same sort of behaviour that helped drag the community down the pit its in currently.

 

[Deleted member 4096]

I agree with this.

All mechanisms for roleplay should be done to facilitate roleplay, prioritizing individual wants and needs over a 'hard' storyline to which it will progress.

Resetting will only kill the server. Willard has inculcated people into valuing their scripts through punitive measures and an incredibly long requirements to achieve scripts. This also goes for positions and roleplay achievements. Clearing out people's characters they've grown attached to, and clearing out their progression that they've infact earned,

All roleplay is arbitrary. Where characters start; where characters lead; what characters intend are arbitrary. They all come from the outside.

When CT and Administrative Team wish to create an event-based system in relation to the prolonged progression of the nominal day-to-day server it is creating a dependence on the event-makers and a pattern where if nothing's happening than there's no reason to be on; as the alternative is 'grinding'.

Loosen/Lessen the mechanics to allow people to do what they wish.
Change the punitive measures for character punishment to either a more relegated format or disappear them entirely.
Loosen / Open Applications if they're on the forums to be open in perpetuity, with acceptance coming in batches. Though this is more of a personal suggestion as I cannot be assed to create another application in my tenure on the server.

 

[BrennenW05]

Loosen/Lessen the mechanics to allow people to do what they wish.

Everything else you said was spot on, however this point may be a bit misguided. The mechanics we have are actual pretty decent, what we really need is to just integrate them into the RP. An example, a crafting component used to make Medium Kevlar (T2) could be earned though a quest by a BMD, person dose said quest, and RPs, then gets the component and is able to craft the item, it's a very simple concept. Low-tier times, such as pipe guns, basic armor and meds, and storage would still be crafted through to normal means of gathering the basic materials. Mid and High-tier items would need specialized components and/or a specialized workbench to make. Our best option is to integrate the gameplay with the RP as much as possible.

 

[Deleted member 4096]

Everything else you said was spot on, however this point may be a bit misguided. The mechanics we have are actual pretty decent, what we really need is to just integrate them into the RP. An example, a crafting component used to make Medium Kevlar (T2) could be earned though a quest by a BMD, person dose said quest, and RPs, then gets the component and is able to craft the item, it's a very simple concept. Low-tier times, such as pipe guns, basic armor and meds, and storage would still be crafted through to normal means of gathering the basic materials. Mid and High-tier items would need specialized components and/or a specialized workbench to make. Our best option is to integrate the gameplay with the RP as much as possible.

That's a good exception.

 

[Lost Coast Chanties]

If you wipe the server, I guarantee that after 1-2 weeks we'll return to the same state. It happened with i17 and Terminal 6, and it'll happen again.

You can't change the playerbase mentality. After the first few weeks of trying new things, everyone will simply return to what they did pre-wipe, rendering the whole thing pointless.

 

[Rat King]

If you wipe the server, I guarantee that after 1-2 weeks we'll return to the same state. It happened with i17 and Terminal 6, and it'll happen again.

You can't change the playerbase mentality. After the first few weeks of trying new things, everyone will simply return to what they did pre-wipe, rendering the whole thing pointless.

Exactly. The players who are doing the writing are the only real factor which influences how 'good' rp quality is. No amount of wiping will solve problems which stem from the fact you dont have enough good writers to roleplay with. the suggestions already been floated but i definitely think we should look into reviewing long-standing bans, especially if said people are interested in returning and were known for being good players.

 

[Liam]

One thing I'm gonna say and I'll keep it simple. Server/Char wipes are not fun for anyone. I understand the reasoning behind them and don't doubt the positives at all. But, when the price is losing all your development and hard work (not talking about scripts), it'll only make people say "Fuck This" imo.

 

[Aspect™]

@Aspect™ remember Valhalla Networks? You don't want to, but do you?

 

[The_Grass_Man]

Enjoy the break bro