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List 1 LIKE/CRITICISM and a Solution


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Hello all,

I think at this point we all know that things have been a  little slower then usual and many of us have seen friends come and go. I personally want to see this server flourish and I really think the only way it really can is if we all band together to list the things we love about this place and maybe some of the things we do not because we can learn from both. Format is simple: List a LIKE then list a CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM/solution. lets not turn this into a flame war and try to keep it relatively serious everyone's voice matters. Cheers.

1. Like: I overall love the community here, I find for the most part the staff really cares about the well being of Ultima, I enjoy playing with all of you and after all this time I have no interest in other PSOBB private servers.

2. CRITICISM: I do dislike the fact that new people are easily turned away from this extreme "learning and equipment required curve" EP2 is insane for new people.

Solution: We need to try and do more as a community to make things easier for new people while of course actively recruiting(and keeping them), a quick start guide for new players with the FAQ and links to everything here. Lets really think outside the box on how to make the immediate experience of logging into PSOBB Ultima a lot easier, we have a lot of endgame tutorials however I believe we need to really focus on beginner to intermediate. I will do what I can in this regard.

Thank you.

 

Edited by C01D1
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The intent here brings the warm fuzzies.

Like: the community of people from around the world who above all else, love this game and want to make playing it enjoyable. I can honestly log in and do a pew pew with pretty much any random person on the server and have an enjoyable conversation while hunting meaningless rare virtual items. There are always people around to talk about this game on forum/shoutbox and usually plenty of people to play with. Through these relationships I have broadened my meme knowledge, tried out new food recipes, and learned many new swear words in foreign languages. I've also become a fan of french prison food.

Criticisms: Leadership. There are literally three people who keep this server running: R78, Mio, and Soly (with cameo appearances by protoss). All of whom are amazing people who selflessly donate their time to keep this game engaging and running smoothly. Beyond them there are gigantic holes to fill. They cannot be there at all times to fix problems, do DT redeems, handle log in issues, etc. and the other "leadership" is utter trash and their commitment to the server is blatantly evident. The leadership responsiveness to the community's needs, wishes, and input is embarrassing. 

Solution: CLEARLY replace lame, uncommitted, biased GMs, put in place processes that act upon community input ("ideas to improve server" thread is not effective). There is a clear communication> action process flow issue in how this is run. 

I know this sounds overly negative but it is how I feel after being on the server for 6 or 7 years and honestly I had to try REALLY hard not to troll this because its really tempting to just say my like is @jezbuz and my criticism is @jezbuz or talk about how much I love posting gifs on shoutbox.

keep it the realest doggy dog sailor clown spambots.

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Like: Community is great. People are generally more than happy to partake in whatever goal you're out to achieve and vice versa.  For those who share the same level of knowledge, the experience here is a very enjoyable one.

Feedback: Often times, especially on the forums, I find that there is a perceived level of knowledge required to be known not only about the game but about the community in general, and that generally tends to scare people off. In major gaming communities that I helped foster and grow, the usage of these extra tools such as forums needs to be the main focus to get people educated and brought up to speed. I absolutely love the tools such as the Character Viewer and Drop Tables, but I bet you many people don't realize these exist, or have the intuition to browse around and try to find these resources. Many people will eventually give up if they don't know where they're looking or if they're afraid to be reprimanded for asking such basic questions.

This ties directly with  @C01D1's suggestion. There needs to be an on-boarding package of some sort to make anyone with cold feet feel welcomed and encourage them to learn more. What tool or form this on-boarding package will take is uncertain. It could be an elaborate post, a web app, or even something in the game...point is, it needs to exist and it's something we can all point new players to in order to learn the basic/intermediate/advanced/custom intricacies of this game and server. These private servers generally favor people who have previous PSO experience since it's usually people who played way back when.

I received an excellent DM from @Domme when I first started where he told me all the intricacies of this server. I'd recommend part of that DM be part of the on-boarding package. However this was done the way it was because I had previous experience. Had I been a new player, a lot of the information he gave me would have went over my head.

Question is, how deep do we go? And the answer is your package needs to cater to all levels of play, especially beginners who may have never seen an PSO interface before in their lives. Yes, I'm talking things as basic as how to map your buttons, what each button does, what your class is capable of, and what each spell does as well as pros/cons. In my short 5 months being on this server, I've run into HUmars in the low 100's who didn't even know they can shifta/deband. I see Forces who rather than support, run around casting Gibarta on everything. Very often times it's because these players don't know any differently and weren't given that basic level of learning. Sure you can tell them to fetch for other resources pso-world.com to learn more, but new players may not even know what are the right things to look up and will lose interest fast.  

Point is, there needs to be some level of on-boarding that is contained within this server's resources, that is easy to follow and will get people right into the swing of the game. In the original PSO, the offline campaign did a decent job of that where you start at a very low level and things get introduced to you as you progress, however that element is lost in the online world especially since new players will come into an environment where many people have reached, or have nearly reached end-game status.

I'm ready and willing to start writing something up or figure out the tools we can put together. If we get this right, and everyone knows to say "Go here to learn more", guaranteed you will see more people joining, staying, and you'll see this server flourishing.

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Likes: I absolutely love how different this server is. I love the cool variety of weapons for each class aswell as armors.

 

Dislikes: What i dont like about this server is how absured it is to get anything new around here. Whenever something new shows up like SS, everyone loses theyre minds, honestly i really dont get why people were so upset about SS, i was just genuinly happy that we just got a new weapon for this server. Not only that, theres a certain weapon that never seems to be fixed and thats Frozen Faust. It makes no sense to how hard it is to actually find the item that creates Frozen Faust, but to make things even worse is that it doesnt even feel like an Iron Faust since you cant hit multiple enemies at once.

Solution: Try to plan out something new for this server to hunt, and if the gms all settle down and do decide to create an item, please get some feed back from the community to see if they would like to have the item changed or kept for hunting. For example, seeing how SS did at the start was a bummer since at one point i could have used SS as a Fo but then suddenly i couldnt since everyone had decided to make the change on a poll. Honestly if an item like SS was planned out more carefully, they would be very little issues. So please gms, i encourage you to at least carefully and thoughtfully make something new for this server to hunt. And if theres a weapon that needs fixing, please ask the community if they'd like to see that certain item fixed and do it asap.

 

In conclusion, i love this game and this server, i only want the best of the best for this server. Please introduce something new thats worth hunting on the drop table, it doesnt even have to be a weapon, it can even be an armor or something.

Edited by SanicTeam
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Like: finding a game a community and game from my childhood still going strong 17 years after I gave up on Sega ever addressing the "frozen screen of death" on the GameCube. The additions and changes to the original game give it a fresh experience and alleviate the grind that dragged out the endgame in the original. The events are all reward-rich, balanced, and encourage the play of content that I rarely played on the original/other servers. The reason I play on Ultima is because of these changes.

Problem/Solution: (combining these because they don't warrent separate exposition) I'm not going to address the management of this server, as the admins already know what the community wants; they've seen it posted ad infinitum in the "ideas to change the server" thread and the chatbox. At this point whatever suggestion we make, they either can't do it, or wont do it. To be completely frank, that's not why the servers population is low anyway. The GMs are whatever. Most players won't even interact with them until hundreds of hours into the game when they finally get their hands on some DTs and/or a weapon worth redeeming.

If you want the server to thrive play the game. what is keeping the community alive is not forum content. For whatever reason, many treat this like a another social media, with constant Facebook arguments and petty grudges. Over the past few months, there is frequently more people on the forums than in the actual game.

Here is the population on the forum vs in game this morning when I first saw this thread:

Screenshot_20200814-183327_Gallery.jpg.7668ffe29ed5a909b011e5d8c81a63fd.jpg

Screenshot_20200814-183340_Gallery.jpg.858d6c21be6a311e25f6333686594f97.jpg

And right now as I'm posting:

Screenshot_20200814-183603_Gallery.jpg.603cf0bc38ce9a548cce13743471b7db.jpg

20200814_183658.jpg.def6f14030378b60cf59b0534ac67377.jpg
The people that are keeping the server alive are people like @applesaucin (who does this novel thing where he has fun conversations in the game lobby, not the chatbox), as well as @Clappy and (as much as some of you hate him) @Emewn, both of whom actively look for new players and then help them whatever way they can. Both of them helped me tremendously when I first started and I probably would not still be here without them. I'm sure there are a few other that spend their time similarly as altruistic, but those are the one I see doing it regularly. I have no problem with anyone on this server, but the ones most vocal about the server "dying" are the ones whom I can count having played with on one hand during my three and a half months on this server. Loading up the game and not being able to find a room because all of them either have passwords or those in lobby will wait for their "team" rather than join a game is what makes people give up. Most people are too busy to wait 30 minutes+ to play an online game.

It's common knowledge to anyone who is familiar with PSO that the fun this game offers is severely diminished when playing alone. No one (apart from the most extreme masochist) is not going to invest hundreds of hours in this game if they haven't found other people to connect with, and a community that welcomes them.

Obviously most of us here are willing to help new players, but again, too many people live on the forums and not the actual game. Players who need help rarely post that they do, or even bother with the forums at all when they start. When someone logs in to the server for a 20 year old game and sees nothing but rooms with passwords and an empty lobby their first thought isn't going to be "I bet the forum chatbox is poppin tho." They're just going to assume no one plays this game anymore.

Edited by jdhenry124
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I want the server to thrive and I play the game everyday I played at least 6 hours today alone. I give away gear to new people all the time. I certainly agree a wall of rooms with passwords really sucks for sure that is why I am going to put the focus on new people and retention through an organized Ultima quick start, FAQ and video tutorials. Forum trolls are everywhere in every community... 

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11 minutes ago, jdhenry124 said:

Like: finding a game a community and game from my childhood still going strong 17 years after I gave up on Sega ever addressing the "frozen screen of death" on the GameCube. The additions and changes to the original game give it a fresh experience and alleviate the grind that dragged out the endgame in the original. The events are all reward-rich, balanced, and encourage the play of content that I rarely played on the original/other servers. The reason I play on Ultima is because of these changes.

Problem/Solution: (combining these because they don't warrent separate exposition) I'm not going to address the management of this server, as the admins already know what the community wants; they've seen it posted ad infinitum in the "ideas to change the server" thread and the chatbox. At this point whatever suggestion we make, they either can't do it, or wont do it. To be completely frank, that's not why the servers population is low anyway. The GMs are whatever. Most players won't even interact with them until hundreds of hours into the game when they finally get their hands on some DTs and/or a weapon worth redeeming.

If you want the server to thrive play the game. what is keeping the community alive is not forum content. For whatever reason, many treat this like a another social media, with constant Facebook arguments and petty grudges. Over the past few months, there is frequently more people on the forums than in the actual game.

Here is the population on the server vs in game this morning when I first saw this thread:

Screenshot_20200814-183327_Gallery.jpg.7668ffe29ed5a909b011e5d8c81a63fd.jpg

Screenshot_20200814-183340_Gallery.jpg.858d6c21be6a311e25f6333686594f97.jpg

And right now as I'm posting:

Screenshot_20200814-183603_Gallery.jpg.603cf0bc38ce9a548cce13743471b7db.jpg

20200814_183658.jpg.def6f14030378b60cf59b0534ac67377.jpg
The people that are keeping the server alive are people like @applesaucin (who does this novel thing where he has fun conversations in the game lobby, not the chatbox), as well as @Clappy and (as much as some of you hate him) @Emewn, both of whom actively look for new players and then help them whatever way they can. Both of them helped me tremendously when I first started and I probably would not still be here without them. I'm sure there are a few other that spend their time similarly as altruistic, but those are the one I see doing it regularly. I have no problem with anyone on this server, but the ones most vocal about the server "dying" are the ones whom I can count having played with on one hand during my three and a half months on this server. Loading up the game and not being able to find a room because all of them either have passwords or those in lobby will wait for their "team" rather than join a game is what makes people give up. Most people are too busy to wait 30 minutes+ to play an online game.

It's common knowledge to anyone who is familiar with PSO that the fun this game offers is severely diminished when playing alone. No one (apart from the most extreme masochist) is not going to invest hundreds of hours in this game if they haven't found other people to connect with, and a community that welcomes them.

Obviously most of us here are willing to help new players, but again, too many people live on the forums and not the actual game. Players who need help rarely post that they do, or even bother with the forums at all when they start. When someone logs in to the server for a 20 year old game and sees nothing but rooms with passwords and an empty lobby their first thought isn't going to be "I bet the forum chatbox is poppin tho." They're just going to assume no one plays this game anymore.

hey das me in your pic

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i read this topic this topic in the afternoon, and i think i know a very efficient way to guide new comer, someone need to make you tube video compiling everything, i'm sure it's a good way to spread knowledge very fast. like how to make a game (i'm sure you all have seen someone asking you that), how to set the "1 to 0" shortcut bar, explane how to tekker a weapon, what % is, what is DAR, and what is DMC. for us, veteran these thing are just common sense, but for the new out here it's very hard to understand.

i also think that we need to make a guide for EP2 ult. because the difficulty curves goes way too high. a quick guide for each zone would be very handy. like have a guide that list:

-what basic gear to naviguate in each zone.

-what basic resistance is needed to be secure (by that i meant EDK, and EFR for the epsylons).

-what basic stats, the minimum required ATA to be able to hit a target.

-Introduc people to tower by doing east/west tower, weather effect and gradualy go up in difficulty.

-what gear to take to be usefull. crowd control is better than doing in a lot of situation

well, that's only a few thing, but imo a video showing/explanning all of that would be very useful. 

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I like the general authenticity that Ultima has as a server. it's unique, I like that.

Criticism (and solution I guess) is to stop all the pointless bitch complaining. Talk in chatbox and forum topics and be civil but the moment either party starts to be dicks about it just mute them and leave it. Most people here are in their mid 20's and 30's. Just act like adults. If you cant talk in a chatbox without trying to offend some one on purpose or calling people names and getting defensive you should just be muted permanently and left alone. My personal idea I guess.

 

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Likes: The Ultima server is awesome and the community is great. Lot of cool items to hunt and good friends to hunt event items. GM's are always around to help wheneva we need DTS redeem, general questions, etc.

 

Dislikes: Toxic players that bring down this server. People need to respect one another in this community and we all need to be grateful that we have the opportunity to be able to play a awesome game that's 20 yrs old and for @Larva  to keep this server up and running so we can enjoy playing a game we loved as kids growing up in the early 2000's.

Solution: I think toxic players that bring down this server and make players that feel uncomfortable in this community need to get one warning and if they still continue to disrespect players on this server, then they should be banned PERMANENTLY! We all come here to enjoy this game and even the new players that join need to feel welcome. I think we need more new and cool items to keep the server fresh and new players won't leave when the game is not interesting or get challenging. Not too many complaints I have with this server really, I enjoy being here and having fun hunting items with great players. I been on this server for 4 yrs so I really appreciate the staff that's always here to help us when we need it @R-78  @Protoss  @serverus  Thank ya'll the support on the Ultima server and I know ya'll have lives outside of here but we do appreciate everything ya'll do for us. Thank you @Larva  for keeping this server up & running and having a server called home that we can come to make new friends and have fun hunting cool items with good people in this community. :) 

 

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Likes: I like that Ultima is being advertised in general. The idea that this game can be shown in different platforms is wonderful since it can gather many new people to join through different platforms and play this cool game!

Dislikes: i don't like that this server has an odd way of advertising and introducing new players to the server.

Example #1: Ultima has a social media account on both Facebook and Twitter, however, the form of advertisement is very unappealing and lack luster. For example, Facebook is a relatively old website that caters to a more older aged audience, not that Facebook is a bad platform to advertise Ultima but the posts that are being made in Facebook are rather stale, theres no "expression" to a new post. The only posts that have expressions are the hand-drawn event pictures, and those are awesome! But even is the posts that have those cool hand-drawn pictures, theres no hashtags, without hashtags it makes it very difficult to spread around through the platform. As for Twitter, that platform is perfect for advertising since it is a more active/popular social media page compared to Facebook. Ultima's Twitter account is more well maintained since not only does it have the same posts as Facebook, but it also has hashtags. Another cool thing that Ultima's Twitter account does is retweet Sega and Sonic Team related tweets! However, some of the only odd things about Ultima's Twitter account is that it contains certain retweets of non related subjects towards PSO or Sega and it completely missuses the hashtag system for some of their posts. For instance during the Triforce Event, a post was made to show everyone that Triforce Event has started, however, the uses of their hashtags was more to show off Zelda than PSO.

Example #2: The lack of other social media websites. One of the biggest social media platform that this server doesn't seem to be affiliated with is Youtube. A clever way to advertise Ultima on Youtube is to make videos and trailers that are well edited and exciting to encourage new people to play/experience the game as well as making videos to demonstrate a new item or mission (R-78's introduction video of her mission called "Tower of Dreams" is an excellent example). Youtube streamers like me and @SanicTeam (and potentially @Dutch Ride if he never retired) can actually help grow Ultima's popularity by playing and showing off the game for many people to see and hopefully play along. Another good platform to advertise Ultima is Instagram, since it is also a popular platform that has many people active and also has the use of hashtags.

Example #3: The lost cause of Google+. This is pretty self explanatory since Google+ has been discontinued and not alot of people don't even use it anymore. I don't really see a reason to use Google+ at all.

Example #4: The outdated and unattractive main web domain. The main web domain of PSOBB Ultima looks rather old, and for some people it may even be a turn off for them unless they have played the game beforehand. However, for a new player, the old prehistoric looking website might be too bland to look at and so on they might choose to not play the game. The main domain website would definitely benefit from having a newer design/style to attract new players to join. But not only that, there should also be a Happy Hour notice on this website. Yes, there is a HH forum thread but honestly it feels very out of place for that to be on this server in 2020.

Solution: Fix at least some of the ways this game can be advertised. A good coordination with a servers community really does help grow an interesting player base. And if anything, i just think there should be a more appealing way to introduce Ultima to someone. Just by having a more professional social media manager can make all the difference in the world. I honestly do hope at least one of these dislikes can be resolves for this server. I love to see new players enjoying this unique and awesome server! 

Edited by TailsTeam
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My likes about Ultima: Different angle of play, quests I cannot find elsewhere, different meta strategies.

My dislikes about Ultima: Feels outdated, never being fine-tuned where flaws are made, not welcoming to newer players.

Solution:

Spoiler

I keep looking at this thread and always told myself not to post in here. Since it's a thing now, I suppose I finally will cave in and say my part as an outsider looking in (I say this because I only play Ultima for the different PSOBB angle and quests that not present where I'm from. I main on the Ephinea Server and have been there for 5 years since March 2020.)

 

Unfortunately, due to my time on Ultima being on the late end, I missed what kinds of things have taken place in the past. However, the past is the past and by the looks of things, that time period won't be coming back. Why? Well stepping foot into Ultima today is like stepping in a time machine. Take yourself out of your own shoes for a moment and put yourself into the mindset and shoes of a person playing on the server for the first time. Don't assume they know the backbone of the PSOBB structure and know what to do on day 1. Make this out to be a casual player that wants to play for the main reason most of us tend to give: Nostalgia.

 

I'll be deconstructing things as I go on, so put a pin into that message just above this one since I'll be getting back to it later. To address issues/dislikes that I have here amount to a number controversial topics that may get quite touchy for a number of veterans here. Issues that I see are: No incentive, HH, event exclusives, DTs, buffed monsters and lack of communication. Again, I'll be deconstructing these topics and I know they are easily more than just 1 as the OP listed as the title. After playing on both servers, I've come to feel very estranged to my own gear. Seeing things lined up with 80h on Ultima is actually a yawn. It's not even impressive and it can be extremely disappointing to newer players once they find what the cause behind that is. Seeing 80h gear (Desired gear) on Ephinea, however, looks above and beyond. It's the lottery, the grand hotel of gear. Something that stands out from the crowd and makes those players feel rewarded for the hunt they did to get those items. Most players on this server that I've spoken to or 'overheard' don't even seem to realize just how ludicrously rare it is to find that kind of hit percentage on a weapon (Not just any weapon, but the weapons they want). 
      Somewhere around the middle of my Ultima grind, there was a particular incident that completely flattened my desire to grind on this server. One day during the Anniversary Event while I was hunting for Sonic Team Armors, I found a 70h Arms from a box in Shambertin's boss room after killing him. My immediate thought was 'OMG OMG OMG OMG' because I know just how crazy strong Dark Meteor is on this server. The response I get for showing such a find off?....It's easier to max a RL Arms.

The topics
-------------------

No incentive: PSOBB is a game where you live for the grind if you plan to reach the endgame. It's something not everyone is into but it's there for those that want to reach that point for their own self-fulfillment or to make it there with their friends. I love this game with a burning passion since I was little and always was the odd one out with my brothers who'd lose interest. I always stuck to the game while they moved on to play other things that I'd occasional join to have a fun time. Deep down, however, I always come back to this game like it was calling my name. I definitely sucked on console when I was young. I had no clue what I was doing or how to get the basics of how to load out the best DPS (Damage Per Second) at the time. I lived through the era of constantly corrupting Memory Cards and the like and only managed to play online GC once in my life before they moved to PC. It wasn't until SCHTserv that I finally moved to playing on PC and we all know where that server went. Where else would they go at that time? They wanted to play PSO somehow and Ultima was up at the time. It certainly blew up at the time and many, many, MANY memories were made. 
    As time passed, I feel that at some point a slowly creeping disinterest started to form due to a lack of updates and content. The game has more stuff but it still feels like it's stuck in the past. Based on what I've seen on the late end, it's like things are added to the server, but the server is never fine-tuned. Conveniences and a newer 'feel' never seem to come out and instead, it's all new content that more than likely ends up as an exclusive. Now let's get back to the pin I mentioned earlier. Imagine a brand new player coming onto the Ultima Server to relive the burning nostalgia they felt for this game from deep within. They may even see that Ultima has all the customs which looks incredible (And I am a personal fan of it, myself) which gives them the green light to register and play. What are they met with? It's surely not the experience they'd expect as they'd see a board full of locked rooms, and that literally everyone left on the Server are maxed out and 200. New players need some kind of incentive to engage in their hunts. Especially if they are going in solo. To really get into the 'Incentive' point, we need to move onto how it can be applied with Ultima which can segue straight into the topic of:

HH: HH (Happy Hour) is a device turned on at random by the GMs. It triples the droprate of rares across the grid for 3 hours. What this device does is creates an insecure barrier of retention on the players. This hardly is an issue when it comes to children or young adults who still do the chores. However, when it comes to adults that have full time jobs, a family to take care of, bills, people to see and things to do--the problem can easily be pointed out by anyone who can put 2 and 2 together. HH to a new player will seed the extremely poisonous thought of only playing and hunting during those times...But due to them being random, they need to keep an eye on the forums (or their phones if they follow). This isn't keeping player retention out of the sheer desire to play. This is literally gripping them by the collar to keep on top of the status of HH just so they don't miss it. There are no boosting activities to play in or participate in with others and while HH isn't as destructive in early game (But still is I think), HH is incredibly pressing when it comes to the events. Once a player who just started starts to find their first bits of gear to get by, they are very quickly left behind when it comes to event hunting. Event items are essentially the incentive most of the time, but to get them reliably, HH is needed due to crippling drop rates. The incentive is to get that gear but the gate in doing just that makes it distasteful.
    No. TTF and/or CCA powerleveling does not help a player catch up to start event grinding. There is an extremely overlooked problem when it comes to helping a new player out. Again, let's refer to that pin from above. Imagine starting on this server and actually finding someone to help you. They take you and say they will speed you to the endgame. In most instances, what would a new player say to that? It's quite obvious. They'd go along with it and take the help. So they powerlevel fast since Ultima has it's EXP rates quite high through the year and run into a problem. They are overleveled and undergeared. This is one of the biggest things that turn players away from any PSOBB server or game in general. The player would want to contribute in games and have fun. At this point, they'd likely start trying to dip into events in order to get the gear they need, but remember the issue of locked games and nobody helping beyond an entry level? Imagine being stuck where you can enter the fun parts of the game but not being able to have fun. This is a legitimate reason I was given from a player that jumped over to Ephinea when I asked. So we have the issue that a new player feel like they cannot progress since there are no activities outside of events, HH causing a rabid play schedule and being the sole device that brings in a population when no events are live, and now just getting into the next point which is:

Buffed Episode 2: So about feeling stuck.....................Put that sentiment into a blender and mix it with fruits/yogurt so you can make yourself the dessert that kills so many newer player's motivation. I don't even know where to begin with this point because of its overwhelming presence. Throw event exclusives into Episode 2 and waiting on HH when you feel like you cannot do anything in the game but die. Quite a bit a cases ditching the server because of this reason alone are out there and will continue to be as long as this problem exists. When any player puts on a video of this server on screen to watch (Since the Tower of Dreams video was mentioned, I'll use that as the example), they'll see a group of people ripping through a quest. Sure, there are deaths, but fun comes out of it in the end instead of frustration or even embarrassment. They'll admire the players and aspire to be like them one day. The question is how to get there? Let's just throw them into an end-game quest to see if they land anything, am I right?.....Recall how I said 80h gear is hardly that impressive on this server? Let's revisit that, shall we?
    0.000000000000000000000000000000001% . What exactly does that percentage mean or relate to? Well it isn't quite as low as displayed. That number is the legitimate chance of obtaining a specific yellow photon weapon in Ultimate with 80h on it with a specific special on it. A Diska, Vulcan, Calibur, etc. Garnering hit% on weapons was never supposed to be a requirement to play this game. It's a bonus to have but due to EVP on so many monsters in episode 2 being so high, it's basically required to even play the game. Obviously SEGA never thought up of just how powerful some of the specials in this game are. So in our eyes, we see hit% as an absolute must to abuse those specials as much as we can. 35h, 40h, and namely 50h are typically good enough to get by when playing the way that we do but Episode 2 here makes that all a joke. It's so sad to me to see all the new players I've seen come leave a Server that I'd genuinely want to see thriving like the rest of you want. So...Where to get 80h gear like it's meaningless? This leads us quite awkwardly into:

Donation Tickets: I have nothing against donating to a server. Especially a server that hosts a game that I thoroughly enjoy down to the bottom of my heart. I've donated to this server numerous times (I will not say that I won't) and I've even done so in quite large amounts in the past. Larva publicly claims on this forum that running the server interferes with his finances to an uncomfortable level. That, combined with the fact that I do not main on the Ultima Server was enough to throw money into it. Again, I don't think there is anything wrong with it. However, donating to keep a place going should be all it's there for. The fact that you get what everybody falls over for (Donation Tickets) by using actual money to effect what you can do in the game is a massive turn-off and hideous in nature. Just look at the gaming industry today. There are so many titles that have some kind of payment sham to either play multi, expand the game, or grind faster to catch up with the rest of the community. That's a commonplace thing today, but on this game? 20 years old? There is no faster way of killing this game for people than being able to endgame if the only requirement was to have a stable job and cash to throw. If DTs were used for things such as cosmetics, I'd love them. 
    Mio, one of the server's GMs hosts an event to actually obtain hit% on weapons at the cost of in-game currency: Photon Drops. While I'm against it being used on all kinds of weapons, I'd all for such an event being there for event exclusives that cannot be hunted year-long. This way, players don't have to be let down by knowing they'd have to wait another year to hunt that beautiful 50h+ SoV. This can also be a gateway to simply uprooting HH all-together. However, the grind is, once again, stunted by the fact that World of Illusion exists. The ability to grind or be carried (If this happens) through constant PD increases would undercut this process and pretty much becomes the only thing people run if this were the only way to garner hit% just to perform well in Episode 2. I've already covered enough regarding Event Exclusives so I'll be skipping that point and moving right to:

Lack of Communication: I will start this point entirely based on what I've seen with my own two eyes. I've come to believe that due to the sheer segregation of players on this server, new players would easily end up lost. I do a side hobby of story writing with my younger brother. I tend to make details and profiles covering the stories we write while I idle in the lobby. I've only been super active on Ultima for a little over a year. A year and some months, etc. Over the course of that time, I've easily seen more than twenty new players register to Ultima. This is 20-25+ players that would be seen adding to the player count. Instead, the count cannot ever seem to rise outside of events/HH, HH alone, green names or a combination of the three especially. I've spoken with numerous over on Ephinea who said they came from Ultima with bad experiences with the newest one lasting on this server for not even 1 month. It's undeniable that that there are issues that are stopping these people from having their fun on the game. Of course, it goes without saying that some of them only wanted their fix before meandering back to whatever other game titles they call home.
    Upon seeing these new players, the very same thing tends to happen (referring to that pin again). They appear in the lobby and start to say their greetings. If they're lucky, they will get a response. They may ask for guidance or help next. I've even seen a player begging the lobby to answer the simple question on how to move as he was stuck in typing. In this instance, there was not a single reply until I spoke up to hit F11. More often times than not, I see newcomers that know how to speak Spanish get more help than any other player I've seen in the lobby. Sure, there's a language barrier but some names that speak both were in that lobby and refused to answer the poor player's question (I will mention no names). I may see that same newcomer again from time to time...But then I never see them again after the first or second week. It's depressing and it always hurts me inside to tell these players to pace themselves when playing. Most I help always want boosting but I let them know what they should be focusing on which is gearing, matting, learning and adapting. But inside it pains me to know that with the information I give them, it will not stop them from running into all the problems I've addressed in this post.
    For a closing note, I could be overlooking a lot of conversations that I simply do not see. Based on what I can physically see, it seems excessively quiet. The Ultima Server's Discord to me feels like an abandoned grocery store with the music still on trying to make it seem functional. Most players are split into their own teams with their own Discords which slowly covered the main one with a blanket of dust over time. Hundreds of members in it, yet I can still find a post of mine just a few lines up and it was made back in June. We're in August and approaching September. 

 

If you read through all of this, please note that I don't mean anything I said with malice. I want this server to do well and not be stuck in a time bubble for the rest of its life. Sure, advertise the server in places but this won't stop the problem. It's only leading more players into it and the cycle will just continue over and over again.


    Thank you, everyone.

 

Edited by Amaranthine
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2 hours ago, Amaranthine said:

My likes about Ultima: Different angle of play, quests I cannot find elsewhere, different meta strategies.

My dislikes about Ultima: Feels outdated, never being fine-tuned where flaws are made, not welcoming to newer players.

Solution:

  An outsider's POV (Hide contents)

I keep looking at this thread and always told myself not to post in here. Since it's a thing now, I suppose I finally will cave in and say my part as an outsider looking in (I say this because I only play Ultima for the different PSOBB angle and quests that not present where I'm from. I main on the Ephinea Server and have been there for 5 years since March 2020.)

 

Unfortunately, due to my time on Ultima being on the late end, I missed what kinds of things have taken place in the past. However, the past is the past and by the looks of things, that time period won't be coming back. Why? Well stepping foot into Ultima today is like stepping in a time machine. Take yourself out of your own shoes for a moment and put yourself into the mindset and shoes of a person playing on the server for the first time. Don't assume they know the backbone of the PSOBB structure and know what to do on day 1. Make this out to be a casual player that wants to play for the main reason most of us tend to give: Nostalgia.

 

I'll be deconstructing things as I go on, so put a pin into that message just above this one since I'll be getting back to it later. To address issues/dislikes that I have here amount to a number controversial topics that may get quite touchy for a number of veterans here. Issues that I see are: No incentive, HH, event exclusives, DTs, buffed monsters and lack of communication. Again, I'll be deconstructing these topics and I know they are easily more than just 1 as the OP listed as the title. After playing on both servers, I've come to feel very estranged to my own gear. Seeing things lined up with 80h on Ultima is actually a yawn. It's not even impressive and it can be extremely disappointing to newer players once they find what the cause behind that is. Seeing 80h gear (Desired gear) on Ephinea, however, looks above and beyond. It's the lottery, the grand hotel of gear. Something that stands out from the crowd and makes those players feel rewarded for the hunt they did to get those items. Most players on this server that I've spoken to or 'overheard' don't even seem to realize just how ludicrously rare it is to find that kind of hit percentage on a weapon (Not just any weapon, but the weapons they want). 
      Somewhere around the middle of my Ultima grind, there was a particular incident that completely flattened my desire to grind on this server. One day during the Anniversary Event while I was hunting for Sonic Team Armors, I found a 70h Arms from a box in Shambertin's boss room after killing him. My immediate thought was 'OMG OMG OMG OMG' because I know just how crazy strong Dark Meteor is on this server. The response I get for showing such a find off?....It's easier to max a RL Arms.

The topics
-------------------

No incentive: PSOBB is a game where you live for the grind if you plan to reach the endgame. It's something not everyone is into but it's there for those that want to reach that point for their own self-fulfillment or to make it there with their friends. I love this game with a burning passion since I was little and always was the odd one out with my brothers who'd lose interest. I always stuck to the game while they moved on to play other things that I'd occasional join to have a fun time. Deep down, however, I always come back to this game like it was calling my name. I definitely sucked on console when I was young. I had no clue what I was doing or how to get the basics of how to load out the best DPS (Damage Per Second) at the time. I lived through the era of constantly corrupting Memory Cards and the like and only managed to play online GC once in my life before they moved to PC. It wasn't until SCHTserv that I finally moved to playing on PC and we all know where that server went. Where else would they go at that time? They wanted to play PSO somehow and Ultima was up at the time. It certainly blew up at the time and many, many, MANY memories were made. 
    As time passed, I feel that at some point a slowly creeping disinterest started to form due to a lack of updates and content. The game has more stuff but it still feels like it's stuck in the past. Based on what I've seen on the late end, it's like things are added to the server, but the server is never fine-tuned. Conveniences and a newer 'feel' never seem to come out and instead, it's all new content that more than likely ends up as an exclusive. Now let's get back to the pin I mentioned earlier. Imagine a brand new player coming onto the Ultima Server to relive the burning nostalgia they felt for this game from deep within. They may even see that Ultima has all the customs which looks incredible (And I am a personal fan of it, myself) which gives them the green light to register and play. What are they met with? It's surely not the experience they'd expect as they'd see a board full of locked rooms, and that literally everyone left on the Server are maxed out and 200. New players need some kind of incentive to engage in their hunts. Especially if they are going in solo. To really get into the 'Incentive' point, we need to move onto how it can be applied with Ultima which can segue straight into the topic of:

HH: HH (Happy Hour) is a device turned on at random by the GMs. It triples the droprate of rares across the grid for 3 hours. What this device does is creates an insecure barrier of retention on the players. This hardly is an issue when it comes to children or young adults who still do the chores. However, when it comes to adults that have full time jobs, a family to take care of, bills, people to see and things to do--the problem can easily be pointed out by anyone who can put 2 and 2 together. HH to a new player will seed the extremely poisonous thought of only playing and hunting during those times...But due to them being random, they need to keep an eye on the forums (or their phones if they follow). This isn't keeping player retention out of the sheer desire to play. This is literally gripping them by the collar to keep on top of the status of HH just so they don't miss it. There are no boosting activities to play in or participate in with others and while HH isn't as destructive in early game (But still is I think), HH is incredibly pressing when it comes to the events. Once a player who just started starts to find their first bits of gear to get by, they are very quickly left behind when it comes to event hunting. Event items are essentially the incentive most of the time, but to get them reliably, HH is needed due to crippling drop rates. The incentive is to get that gear but the gate in doing just that makes it distasteful.
    No. TTF and/or CCA powerleveling does not help a player catch up to start event grinding. There is an extremely overlooked problem when it comes to helping a new player out. Again, let's refer to that pin from above. Imagine starting on this server and actually finding someone to help you. They take you and say they will speed you to the endgame. In most instances, what would a new player say to that? It's quite obvious. They'd go along with it and take the help. So they powerlevel fast since Ultima has it's EXP rates quite high through the year and run into a problem. They are overleveled and undergeared. This is one of the biggest things that turn players away from any PSOBB server or game in general. The player would want to contribute in games and have fun. At this point, they'd likely start trying to dip into events in order to get the gear they need, but remember the issue of locked games and nobody helping beyond an entry level? Imagine being stuck where you can enter the fun parts of the game but not being able to have fun. This is a legitimate reason I was given from a player that jumped over to Ephinea when I asked. So we have the issue that a new player feel like they cannot progress since there are no activities outside of events, HH causing a rabid play schedule and being the sole device that brings in a population when no events are live, and now just getting into the next point which is:

Buffed Episode 2: So about feeling stuck.....................Put that sentiment into a blender and mix it with fruits/yogurt so you can make yourself the dessert that kills so many newer player's motivation. I don't even know where to begin with this point because of its overwhelming presence. Throw event exclusives into Episode 2 and waiting on HH when you feel like you cannot do anything in the game but die. Quite a bit a cases ditching the server because of this reason alone are out there and will continue to be as long as this problem exists. When any player puts on a video of this server on screen to watch (Since the Tower of Dreams video was mentioned, I'll use that as the example), they'll see a group of people ripping through a quest. Sure, there are deaths, but fun comes out of it in the end instead of frustration or even embarrassment. They'll admire the players and aspire to be like them one day. The question is how to get there? Let's just throw them into an end-game quest to see if they land anything, am I right?.....Recall how I said 80h gear is hardly that impressive on this server? Let's revisit that, shall we?
    0.000000000000000000000000000000001% . What exactly does that percentage mean or relate to? Well it isn't quite as low for the topic at hand but not far off. That number is the legitimate chance of obtaining a specific yellow photon weapon in Ultimate with 80h on it. A Diska, Vulcan, Calibur, etc. I am not exaggerating this number and it gets even slimmer when looking for a specific special to go with it. Garnering hit% on weapons was never supposed to be a requirement to play this game. It's a bonus to have but due to EVP on so many monsters in episode 2 being so high, it's basically required to even play the game. Obviously SEGA never thought up of just how powerful some of the specials in this game are. So in our eyes, we see hit% as an absolute must to abuse those specials as much as we can. 35h, 40h, and namely 50h are typically good enough to get by when playing the way that we do but Episode 2 here makes that all a joke. It's so sad to me to see all the new players I've seen come leave a Server that I'd genuinely want to see thriving like the rest of you want. So...Where to get 80h gear like it's meaningless? This leads us quite awkwardly into:

Donation Tickets: I have nothing against donating to a server. Especially a server that hosts a game that I thoroughly enjoy down to the bottom of my heart. I've donated to this server numerous times (I will not say that I won't) and I've even done so in quite large amounts in the past. Larva publicly claims on this forum that running the server interferes with his finances to an uncomfortable level. That, combined with the fact that I do not main on the Ultima Server was enough to throw money into it. Again, I don't think there is anything wrong with it. However, donating to keep a place going should be all it's there for. The fact that you get what everybody falls over for (Donation Tickets) by using actual money to effect what you can do in the game is a massive turn-off and hideous in nature. Just look at the gaming industry today. There are so many titles that have some kind of payment sham to either play multi, expand the game, or grind faster to catch up with the rest of the community. That's a commonplace thing today, but on this game? 20 years old? There is no faster way of killing this game for people than being able to endgame if the only requirement was to have a stable job and cash to throw. If DTs were used for things such as cosmetics, I'd love them. 
    Mio, one of the server's GMs hosts an event to actually obtain hit% on weapons at the cost of in-game currency: Photon Drops. While I'm against it being used on all kinds of weapons, I'd all for such an event being there for event exclusives that cannot be hunted year-long. This way, players don't have to be let down by knowing they'd have to wait another year to hunt that beautiful 50h+ SoV. This can also be a gateway to simply uprooting HH all-together. However, the grind is, once again, stunted by the fact that World of Illusion exists. The ability to grind or be carried (If this happens) through constant PD increases would undercut this process and pretty much becomes the only thing people run if this were the only way to garner hit% just to perform well in Episode 2. I've already covered enough regarding Event Exclusives so I'll be skipping that point and moving right to:

Lack of Communication: I will start this point entirely based on what I've seen with my own two eyes. I've come to believe that due to the sheer segregation of players on this server, new players would easily end up lost. I do a side hobby of story writing with my younger brother. I tend to make details and profiles covering the stories we write while I idle in the lobby. I've only been super active on Ultima for a little over a year. A year and some months, etc. Over the course of that time, I've easily seen more than twenty new players register to Ultima. This is 20-25+ players that would be seen adding to the player count. Instead, the count cannot ever seem to rise outside of events/HH, HH alone, green names or a combination of the three especially. I've spoken with numerous over on Ephinea who said they came from Ultima with bad experiences with the newest one lasting on this server for not even 1 month. It's undeniable that that there are issues that are stopping these people from having their fun on the game. Of course, it goes without saying that some of them only wanted their fix before meandering back to whatever other game titles they call home.
    Upon seeing these new players, the very same thing tends to happen (referring to that pin again). They appear in the lobby and start to say their greetings. If they're lucky, they will get a response. They may ask for guidance or help next. I've even seen a player begging the lobby to answer the simple question on how to move as he was stuck in typing. In this instance, there was not a single reply until I spoke up to hit F11. More often times than not, I see newcomers that know how to speak Spanish get more help than any other player I've seen in the lobby. Sure, there's a language barrier but some names that speak both were in that lobby and refused to answer the poor player's question (I will mention no names). I may see that same newcomer again from time to time...But then I never see them again after the first or second week. It's depressing and it always hurts me inside to tell these players to pace themselves when playing. Most I help always want boosting but I let them know what they should be focusing on which is gearing, matting, learning and adapting. But inside it pains me to know that with the information I give them, it will not stop them from running into all the problems I've addressed in this post.
    For a closing note, I could be overlooking a lot of conversations that I simply do not see. Based on what I can physically see, it seems excessively quiet. The Ultima Server's Discord to me feels like an abandoned grocery store with the music still on trying to make it seem functional. Most players are split into their own teams with their own Discords which slowly covered the main one with a blanket of dust over time. Hundreds of members in it, yet I can still find a post of mine just a few lines up and it was made back in June. We're in August and approaching September. 

 

If you read through all of this, please note that I don't mean anything I said with malice. I want this server to do well and not be stuck in a time bubble for the rest of its life. Sure, advertise the server in places but this won't stop the problem. It's only leading more players into it and the cycle will just continue over and over again.

I will say though that after seeing the change with Olga Flow's drops along with Gal Gryphon and Olga Flow no longer being invincible in solo mode, I can only hope that whatever future development can reshape and breathe more life into the server. Thank you Larva for having this Server for those who love this game. Thank you Shiida for monitoring everything so thoroughly, blessing the server with your content and helping as many people as you can. Thank you Mio for hosting the events you do to make life easier for players in terms of gear. Shout out to anyone out there that does their best to help new players grow. They are the only key to growing a better future with Ultima at this point.
    Thank you, everyone.

 

- Esther Amaranthine

 

I think you make a lot of good points, but I think some of your criticism ignores the benefits of the systems you're denigrating. 

I myself recently started playing this game again during the quarantine, and quite honestly my initial expectation was to just spend a dozen or so hours on a nostalgia trip before moving on to another AAA PS4 game. The changes made to PSO in Ultima are why I stuck around.

It's easy to look back on the original PSO with rose colored glasses and say that the original didn't need any alterations to it's formula. Quite frankly, the reason people stop playing PSO is just as much the monotony of the grind, as much as anything else. While their are hardcore people who will stomach that hunt for .000000001% item, the rest of us can't afford to invest that much time in a video game anymore. I am not the 13 year old I was when I first played this game. And while it's true that finding that rare item outside HH feels exhilarating, it's just as debilitating to hunt for weeks and get nothing. The reason your brothers stop playing PSO is the same reason people stop playing in 2020.

Donation tickets seems like an odd thing to complain about considering they are optional, and while of course you could argue that the boosted EVP in ep2 makes them mandatory, it's not that difficult to obtain DTs through trades and it would *still* be less of a grind than farming a rare weapon with hit. I could of course put myself through the hell of trying to farm a sealed J sword with hit, or I can farm PBCs and sell them for 15DTs each and not want to hang myself. Even with HH the drop rate in this game for weapons and armor with good stats is brutal, and simply suggesting that people will prefer to put themselves through that hell when, again, most people don't have that time to dump into a game before feeling any sense of accomplishment or satisfaction.

I have put around 500 hours into this server and still don't have a weapon with more than 50 hit. Will I feel a sense of accomplishment when I finally have my first 80 hit weapon? Absolutely. Will that feeling be diminished because I used DTs? Not really since I worked for all of my DTs through farming and selling items. Would someone with an 80hit weapon feel even more accomplished for farming an 80hit weapon if the DT system didn't exist? Yeah, I'm sure that one person every decade will feel great about it, but the rest of us want nice gear too. And you don't need to have a fat bank account for that to happen, you just need to be good at trading.

The grind to be proficient in ep2 on this server is more forgiving than the grind to reach 200 at 1x exp. I invested nearly a thousand hours in the original PSO and didn't even reach level 150. And the boosted difficulty allows players to actually want to get better at the game, whereas the original PSO became very stale once you reached a certain level with adequate gear. There is NO incentive to keep hunting gear when you're already invisible to most of the game.

I do agree that the server is too segregated between lvl 200s and the casual players, as well as the dependency of many on HHs. I think you brought up a great solution that I hope is implemented. Have the players of the server work towards the rewards, instead of them being random. I brought this up in the "ideas to improve the server" thread and was shot down, but there should be an incentive to play every week/month. Let the community unlock green names or a boosted drop rate, or a special item added to the drop list, or even access to a special event (one of the one or two day Mio events). People like working towards a goal, even more so when they are part of a community.

Edited by jdhenry124
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Its interesting, I had started a poll awhile back specifically during events and its dependence on Happy Hours and it was not only squashed but met with some extreme hostility.  At the end of the day any good idea should be discussed and if agreed upon implemented within a reasonable timeframe if it is possible.

 

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Likes:

1) Community in general - To be honest that's the main reason that kept me active in this server after so many years.

2) Easy to reach out everyone through forums - Even tho the forum is not a Ultima's exclusive, i like how people use it. If people use it so actively, shows that the forum is well structured and welcoming for communication.

3) Buffed Ep 2 - yeah, probably not a popular opinion, but i like the Ep2 buffed aspect of the server. Can be challenging and sometimes punishing in terms of experience (especially for little newbies, but also sometimes frustrating for experienced players with high end gear due the lack of consistency ), but that incentives you to explore new solutions in terms of gear, mechanics and strategies. Ep2 was the reason that made me learn about SNS glitching when i started and in some way, not being exclusively a hostage of high end gear with max stats when i couldn't afford.

4) Variety - The variety of custom gear is one of the main reasons i chose to start my experience in ultima and not in any other active server at that time. The feeling of desiring to have a 100 souls, a lindcray or even a Asteron Striker when i started playing was great, because they were strong weapons and looked very cool. Exploring all the Ultima's unique weapons was a very nice experience for me personally.

5) Exclusive event drops - Probably another unpopular opinion, but i really love the feeling of some high end items being dropped only during specific times of the year. Makes you desire them and in some way makes your PSO experience longer. If PGF was all year around, that wouldn't be so special and i probably would lose the interest on grinding it after a while, or wouldn't feel the experience so special after getting my first. It can be frustrating to have PGF dropped only during 3 weeks a year, specially during xmas time where we are more busy, but overall i think it's a postive aspect of the game.

Dislikes:

1) Leadership - I already expressed my opinion about this countless times on previous topics so i'm not repeating myself.

2) Lack/Poor Communication and difficulties in connection between staff and community - With some exceptions, this is my biggest turn off in this server. Still i have to admit that some things have got better in the last months, but there is still a big space to improve.

3) Lack of direction or philosophy for the server - This happens alot in the "creative department" of the server. Example: Lindcray was introduced a long time ago and it's arguably an overpowered single target weapon for DPS with a irrelevant drawback (TP consuming). After that, it's hard to make any similar interesting weapon, because will be either weaker and uninteresting or power creeped and even more busted. I'm fine with it, but then Serene Swan cames out (and probably the only interesting weapon introduced after Bomb-Chu that really add something new to your playstyle) and we all know how that ended lol. The fact that the main admin wanted to nerf it after introducing SS in the game, claiming that the weapon was too overpower (and for FO lol), shows either he doesn't understand anything about the game or lacks a direction or philosophy for his own server. The way that Serene Swan was handled also reinforces my point 2). The HH lack of criteria, between most GM is also an example of my point.

4) Not introducing newbies in a friendly way - i saw people making this point and i completely agree. It can be hard for a new brand player to know where everything is and the tools that exist etc. I don't even have to talk about the people that donated and wanted to change their DTs for items in the donation items list with absurd prices.

5) Overly Defensive atitude of some staff member when the server or them are negatively criticized -  Everything is labbled as drama and you don't have the oportunity to express your views and opinions to improve on a certain matter even if it's in a civil, polite and fair way. The debate is not incentivited, but rather ignored and destroyed by the basic and vulgar demagogy as usual - "Drama". This had happened in the Serene Swan topic for example, but it has been always like this in major topics where the community tries to express their concerns.

Solutions:

Well i think most of my turn offs are self explanatory in terms of solutions so i won't develop too much my resoning on this.

1) Leadership - Transfer the Leadership to someone that is more suited and has time to put on it.

2) Find people that have better communication skills that are more interest and have more understanding of PSO. Some staff member here are doing nothing for a very long period of time and lack the empathic or social/communicating intelligence.

Shoutout to R-78 that was the best decision to include in the staff. People like her is what i personally think it's suited for a GM.

3) This mostly depends on the person that makes the decisions. If he is not interest on improving this point, there are no miracles.

4) A complete newbies introduction guide about this topic with the all information so nobody feels lost.

5) Again, similar to point 2). Change the people that are on the staff. Bring people that better understand the game and with better social/communication skills that have enough real life time to dedicate a couple of hours per day to manage the community and all the aspects of the server in an organized way. PSO and Ultima won't last forever, but since we are here now, at least we could have a better experience in all this aspects.

Also a thought or two about my 5) like point about the event drops - We all know its very frustrating of not getting a PGF during the 3 weeks period of the year. This could be "fixed" (or at least more interesting in my opinion) if we could have an weekend only event during a random weekend of the year (out of the PGF season) where it dropped and people that didn't get a PGF would have another change during a weekend to get. It doesn't even have to be PGF but can be any other event item, or even some sort of drop that only dropped during that weekend and you could redeem for another event only items. I don't know if the concept is tecnically viable, but it would at least spice things up and bring more interest to people in different time frames.

Edited by jezbuz
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