New Frontiers feedback

[Hayden]

Hi all!

I've made this thread because I know many of you will likely miss the faction @'s that RAD does every day because he does them quite late - and also for the refugees to provide their thoughts and requests. I've heard that a lot of people are enjoying this event - and it fills me and the rest of the staff with joy to hear that, but we're also open to any other kinda feedback to make this event better, other than "Fix channel energy bug", "You're doing great", "I've been playing for 26 hours.", etc.

We're aware that sometimes tickets might take awhile to be responded to - there's not much we can really do about that. With the scope of this event, and the three maps, we're all stretched quite thin. Personally, today was the only day I actually got the opportunity to sit down and stick IC for awhile.

There's no format you need to follow, but if you'd like to, then here's one;

Faction(s) you've been playing:
Event rating (0-10):
Did you play Project Venus, or Black Gold?:
Favourite part of the event (try to avoid meta- use public information):
Least favourite part of the event (Again, refer to the above):
Favourite map:
Comments, feedback, suggestions, etc:

Optional again, but I know some people would love to hear this-
Favourite character (GM or non GM):
Favourite new feature:

 

[MCG]

Faction(s) you've been playing: Refugee
Event rating (0-10): 8-9
Did you play Project Venus, or Black Gold?: What the hell is that?
Favourite part of the event (try to avoid meta- use public information): People roleplaying/acting like real people/things/etc, and less like video game people. Everyone's natural reactions to things, building relationships, working on their own agendas, playing believable characters. The events facilitated those in the players.
I don't think I was in any specific event within that was narrated and that I had to write /mes for. Almost all the roleplay I've done has been with other characters. I've yet to S2RP or solve much in the way of puzzles.
Least favourite part of the event (Again, refer to the above): S2K. It's a problem for me due to my 400 ping but I struggle to shoot at zombies coming straight at me. I have to wait for any enemy to stand still to make sure hit detection kicks in.
It was also quite slow at the start when trying to get started with the new environment, but once it got going, I was fine.
Favourite map: I haven't touched Cheyenne and Denver's a real dangerous shithole. Normal map's pretty good.
Comments, feedback, suggestions, etc: Keep those events interesting? Vague, I know, but I haven't been present for all that much that I needed to write for. It's mostly just been shooting at things that threaten my survival, and roleplaying in the downtime to make sure everyone stays alive. If there's more situational/puzzle/S2RP stuff, I'd love to do that before the event ends.

Oh, right. Please make event longer or at least make some way to keep these characters/situation/etc going. Two weeks sounds real short now that story's kicking off.

Some way to craft the new items since they do not seem to be available in the crafting menu at this stage.

 

[RileyTheRoomba]

Faction(s) you've been playing: Refugees
Event rating (0-10): 7
Did you play Project Venus, or Black Gold?: Negatory
Favourite part of the event (try to avoid meta- use public information): Probably just interacting with people thusfar, nothing actually event-wise that I've been able to interact with has really had me by the balls.
Least favourite part of the event (Again, refer to the above): While I enjoy the scarcity of resources, I'm oftentimes a little too afraid to wander off into the map even with other people because the risks seem quite elevated and the NPCs you face are pretty hard to avoid taking damage from. The zombies for example are nearly as fast as the player, and to close the distance on them to get a hit in is oftentimes close enough for them to also get a hit on you. So it's a game of just take damage to deal damage. They make me a little weary to go out, even with other people, alongside the fact that every day that passes seems to add more and more risks that make me afraid to get obliterated for taking a footstep out of New Hope.
Favourite map: Obligated to answer with the wasteland one because it's the only one I've had the chance to play on thusfar.
Comments, feedback, suggestions, etc: most of what I can say has already been said above. Dunno what the fix would be. I think the zombies are cool just fighting them isn't really fun, especially with a smaller melee weapon.

 

[Mr House]

Faction(s) you've been playing: refugee

Event rating (0-10): 5

Did you play Project Venus, or Black Gold?: Black gold yes

Favourite part of the event (try to avoid meta- use public information):
Each and every group working together for one another. The dynamics and politics are very interesting to hear about OOC. The difficulty for this event is absolutely beyond me, it’s very hard and going to the destroyed city map alone is a death sentence, but the rewards are usually worth it. All servers being connected is a technical marvel and very fun.

Least favourite part of the event (Again, refer to the above): Refugee faction seems to be left behind in most activity, you’re either a patriot, conscript or vortigaunt. I’d also have much preferred a very large map rather than three separate ones, like how black gold was made, three camps opposite from each other. I also found that character variety is lacking, every character seems nearly about the same, unsure if this is just me though.

Favourite map: Beta wasteland. I think it was propped perfectly and the use of synths makes it an amazing, rewarding and dangerous area to explore.

Comments, feedback, suggestions, etc: Farming should take much longer than a few minutes, it’s a very cool system and I love what GB did but the fact we’re able to get the best food so quickly makes food scarcity pointless.

More crate of trash bags needs to be placed around the map, as well as their respawn rate being increased ten fold.

Personally not too interested in playing outlandRP, found myself getting bored very easily, I much prefer the more dense, combine controlled zone, such as a city. This could be the main reason as to why I’m not enjoying the event as much, I thought I’d just add this so people didn’t think I’m a hater, which I am, 100% certified hater, like I hate pretty much everyone and everything. Like, ask anyone, seriously, I’m such a hater, ask anyone, that’s right, anyone, they’ll tell you I’m a hater alright, worst of them all. This event just isn’t for me.

Optional again, but I know some people would love to hear this-
Favourite character (GM or non GM): Travis drunk Russian driver guy

Favourite new feature: farming system easily, still not perfect in my eyes but still the best.

 

[ZeroPants]

Faction(s) you've been playing: None
Event rating (0-10): 0
Did you play Project Venus, or Black Gold?: both
Favourite part of the event (try to avoid meta- use public information): when my character pressed the quit server button
Least favourite part of the event (Again, refer to the above): everything else
Favourite map: gm_flatgrass
Comments, feedback, suggestions, etc: end the event

Optional again, but I know some people would love to hear this-
Favourite character (GM or non GM): Myself
Favourite new feature: Myself

 

[Cavity]

Faction(s) you've been playing: Refugees

Event rating (0-10):
8

Did you play Project Venus, or Black Gold?:
No.

Favourite part of the event (try to avoid meta- use public information):
The extremely hostile yet complex environment, and the amazing ability that the development team added to travel inbetween maps located on different servers. It is unbelievably unique and I’ve never seen anything like it. An instant hit!

Least favourite part of the event (Again, refer to the above):
It does feel very grind-based, and if you are a player who doesn’t take massive risks you’ll often end up with nothing. Granted, while this DOES make sense, it can be a massive turnoff for some people. Loot takes a very long time to respawn and traveling to the other maps is EXTREMELY dangerous for even the most well-equipped rebels in the outlands. Maybe find some sort of balance in this area of danger and loot to make it more inclusive for others.

Favourite map:
I have yet to visit Cheyenne, but having gone to Denver a handful of times, I have logically decided to avoid it… I would say that the main map is my favorite. However; the ability to travel to much more dangerous maps from the same server is an amazing concept. I also love how the environments are very dangerous in these maps, but offer high rewards for the brash player willing to take risks.

Comments, feedback, suggestions, etc:
Several things would make welcoming additions to the main city server which have been implemented here such as:

. A variety of traders. Each of whom you can only buy / sell certain things too until a new trader spawns.

. An independent outlands server map you character can travel to from the city.

. A little bit of a less-grindy system. Part of the fun of a character is the grind! When you already have everything, it isn’t fun anymore. I would improve on this, maybe make it slightly easier to obtain common loot for crafting but reduce the chances of obtaining rare loot and resources. This would encourage the player to craft the rare materials and items themselves.


The few things I would change about the current event would be:

. Increase loot spawns / locations
. Decrease damage from zombies
. Slightly decrease speed of zombies
. Encourage the Conscripts to send out foot patrols which involve them getting on the main event server. Also please encourage them to actually roleplay and not be glorified PK NPCs that wander the wastes with itchy trigger-fingers.

Favourite character (GM or non GM):
Captain Rowe, or ‘Audrey’

Favourite new feature:
Ability to travel inbetween maps that are all unique and have their own challenges and variety of loot.

 

[TheMouths]

Faction(s) you've been playing: Conscript

Event rating (0-10): Solid 8

Did you play Project Venus, or Black Gold?: Project Venus

Favourite part of the event (try to avoid meta- use public information):
Interactions between my character and other Project Venus survivor is very nice, there's constantly one event or mission for conscripts which makes the world feel like it's constantly moving. The military atmosphere is pretty nice especially because we're not restricted like an actual military RP.

Least favourite part of the event (Again, refer to the above):
Man, fuck other people's decision-making skills


Favourite map: Denver is my home


Comments, feedback, suggestions, etc:
make vort beams deal 55 dmg hit instead of like ~75 like they make armor anything less than heavy armor useless

Favourite character (GM or non GM):
Hex Sanchez is an actual human being IC'ly, crazy

 

[villeneuve]

Faction(s) you've been playing: Conscripts

Event rating (0-10): 8-9

Did you play Project Venus, or Black Gold?: Na

Favourite part of the event (try to avoid meta- use public information): The staff do a great job in making the event fun. There's always something to do, always a situation that needs to be dealt with - mostly arranged by the GMs, but it's still great.

The atmospheres of Denver and Fort Collins are amazing and the giant difference between them is very cool. Not once did I feel like the Short Story team slacked off during development of the event.

It's also really cool how much of a mess the region is - and how every faction has something to lose, one way or another. The fights are kept short and there's only really one or two deaths at most for each side at the moment.

Least favourite part of the event (Again, refer to the above): The server has a ton of bugs, such as guns losing magazines while traversing maps or PAC items being fucky. Still, it's a surprise that the staff managed to get it working in the first place.

In their current state, Vorts are vastly overpowered in comparison to Conscripts. While I don't usually care much about S2K combat since I play for the roleplay, it does get pretty discouraging to participate in a fight since they're pretty much walking tanks in every sense.

Favourite map: Denver

Comments, feedback, suggestions, etc: None so far.

Favourite character (GM or non GM): Hiros' fake Conscript character, Alexander Datovish.

Favourite new feature: Server hopping / Map changing.

 

[MCG]

I'm going to provide feedback over the specific scenario I was involved in over today's event.
I was preparing to roleplay accordingly with any given situation in the neighborhood outside my house, even though it was a bit confusing that S2K and S2RP were happening on opposite sides of the road.

Some new guy ran into my ICly locked house, saw a vort, and yelled out their presence to get the conscripts' attention, which immediately initiated an S2K response before I could type anything. When I had no choice but to participate in the following S2K, I get killed and looted, as you do, but that same guy ran towards me with his fists while I had a gun on him and punched me down to grab my stuff.

All this to say, the shootout wouldn't have happened if that new guy didn't fuck around so much. He changed the situation so much that it's basically irreversible to the plot as a whole thanks to there being a Grand Elder in my house. He was warned, sure, but it really sucks that so much was lost because of that guy. It's unfair.

 

[Snoberry]

Faction(s) you've been playing: Refugee & Conscript (Recruited)

Event rating (0-10): 7/10 for Conscripts, 4/10 for Refugees

Did you play Project Venus, or Black Gold?: No

Favourite part of the event (try to avoid meta- use public information): Doin conscript shit in Denver. The mix of combine rigid RP and loose 'almost rebels but not quite' RP that you get with Conscripts is really fun

Least favourite part of the event (Again, refer to the above): Pretty much anything as a refugee. There's barely anything to do if you aren't in one of the factions, or lucky enough to get picked up *by* one of the factions. Fort Collins is tiny and picked clean 99% of the time, so there's nothing to do except wander around and hope you can stumble onto some fun RP with the faction bois, and if you go to one of the other maps as a refugee you're liable to get PK'd

Favourite map: Denver, but I haven't been to Cheyenne yet

Comments, feedback, suggestions, etc: Make joining the factions easier, and make the pre-event applications for positions of authority at the start, or for really exclusive factions. i.e. Vortigaunts during this event, but make Conscripts & Patriots open-enrollment.

Optional again, but I know some people would love to hear this-

Favourite character (GM or non GM): This feels like a trap.

Favourite new feature: I honestly don't know I've only ever played the regular HL2RP on C24.

 

[nath1234567]

Not sure how many people have experienced this but most I've talked to can agree that the zombies that spawn in the city with the new running animations are incredibly laggy and not too fun to fight against, granted I'm a NA player so my ping is quite high. Despite this, I can usually still reliably hit most NPC's on the regular server with a ping of around 160.

That though is not the case for the new zombies, which seem to be near impossible to actually hit without getting hit by them yourself. Even then, the zombie seems far more likely to hit you than you are to hit it.

If the goal is to have an enemy type that you basically can't engage with a melee weapon without suffering from some loss of health than these zombies work perfectly, as they consistently trade when you manage to hit them with a melee. Though I would rather see them replaced by the standard fast zombie NPCs, they're much more reliable and would achieve the same thing.

Another thing I wanted to touch upon is that the refugee experience throughout the event seems somewhat lacking for most. At best, you're a well equipped refugee somehow who can work effectively with the Patriots, though I'm unsure how these people got their things with such limited resources on the server. For most, you basically sit around in New Hope and watch the Patriots do their thing, ask around for food when your hunger/thirst gets low. You can go into the city and maybe return with a few pieces of scrap and half your health missing if you decided to fight any of the zombies with your melee. It's easy to understand why the whitelisted factions seem to have more going on, as they're the driving forces of the event. Just thought I would this out, though. Still overall an amazing event.

 

[MCG]

Not sure how many people have experienced this but most I've talked to can agree that the zombies that spawn in the city with the new running animations are incredibly laggy and not too fun to fight against, granted I'm a NA player so my ping is quite high. Despite this, I can usually still reliably hit most NPC's on the regular server with a ping of around 160.

That though is not the case for the new zombies, which seem to be near impossible to actually hit without getting hit by them yourself. Even then, the zombie seems far more likely to hit you than you are to hit it.

If the goal is to have an enemy type that you basically can't engage with a melee weapon without suffering from some loss of health than these zombies work perfectly, as they consistently trade when you manage to hit them with a melee. Though I would rather see them replaced by the standard fast zombie NPCs, they're much more reliable and would achieve the same thing.

Another thing I wanted to touch upon is that the refugee experience throughout the event seems somewhat lacking for most. At best, you're a well equipped refugee somehow who can work effectively with the Patriots, though I'm unsure how these people got their things with such limited resources on the server. For most, you basically sit around in New Hope and watch the Patriots do their thing, ask around for food when your hunger/thirst gets low. You can go into the city and maybe return with a few pieces of scrap and half your health missing if you decided to fight any of the zombies with your melee. It's easy to understand why the whitelisted factions seem to have more going on, as they're the driving forces of the event. Just thought I would this out, though.

As someone who was in the 'best' category aforementioned, I got most of my stuff from events and some from the lootable containers hidden around. It was pure luck.

 

[afibon]

Something like #Crisis-tracking but to cover general events would be nice to have at least the basic context of what you've been missing if you didn't manage to join in time. Yesterday I got into the server just as the battle had finished and I never even managed to get someone to tell me what happened IC as the inter-faction politics that followed for 3 hours was so heavy that we were all just trying to process all the new information. This while I wasn't even sure how the conscripts came to surrender, or Hex's sub-plot, etc.

 

[Kappatalist]

Gonna give my final thoughts ^^

Faction(s) you've been playing: Refugee
Event rating (0-10): 7
Did you play Project Venus, or Black Gold?: No
Favourite part of the event (try to avoid meta- use public information):
Absolutely the finale, there were good pieces between although I was often not online for them because of work. The balance for the event seemed fair, although I played from a rebel perspective only. Other than the finale I quite enjoyed both attacks on the silo base, and honestly the constantly shifting alliances and player initiative were amazing - I'd log on one day and the faction we were allied with was now our enemy. The passive RP I enjoyed as well, there were a lot of unique and interesting characters throughout the event.

Least favourite part of the event (Again, refer to the above):
I think the weekdays were fairly dead and not a lot happened during them, the map was alright but was entirely explored by day 1 with not much else to do besides the passive RP (Which I enjoyed a lot tbf, but I didn't find there to be much of a goal to work towards as a refugee) and going to other maps, which I found was usually a death sentence on the few times I went there. The antlion hives were a good threat although they appeared not long before the end and I don't think much ever ended up coming from it.

Favourite map: desert siege
Comments, feedback, suggestions, etc:
- Wasn't a whole lot to do outside of events for the refugees, more things like the antlion hives, water towers, etc, would've been neat.
- The first few days were amazing, then it tapered off a bit, and picked up towards the end of the event, with the few days before the finale kinda desolate.
- Overall, a brilliant event, I'd have to place it below Rising Sun though just because the time outside of the actual events was pretty empty, but anything which had a GM to run it was brilliantly done.
- Final event was great, just the last elevator fight... I think it was almost impossible for rebels to overcome that.

Optional again, but I know some people would love to hear this-
Favourite character (GM or non GM): I enjoyed a lot of the characters I met, I can't pick a favourite, but some of the best I interacted with:
George Coxwell, Michael, Marina Trepani, Maddog, and The General - Among others.

Favourite new feature: PAC items, they're a bit buggy, but they have a lot of potential I feel. The vests were pretty great which I managed to make, just I had to have staff set my bodygroup so I could wear a shirt as they took up the entire torso slot. If this appears in future, I think a separate vest slot would be best (Should probably block other kevlars, etc, from being worn tho under the vest)

 

[Cengiz]

Conscripts honest reaction, as soon as they see Vortigaunts in Denver