Seeking constructive criticism.

[Spira]

Not sure if this is the correct section, however I am looking on some new perspectives and opinions about my server. For awhile now I have been trying to gather feedback on things to improve or find out what turns people off to my server.

My servers rates are at 200/200/50 right now, and while looking around at servers with similar rates, they have like 2000 accounts. Meanwhile my server has been open for around 4 months now with only 457 accounts. So clearly people are being turned off before they even sign up. I have looked over all of the threads regarding population, reasons why people don't join your server, and other things. The only thing I can really think of is the fact that the rates appeal more to a niche of players and sits between the high and mid rate which might turn more people off.

So I am wondering if people can give me some constructive criticism on things that they find unappealing about the site, the features, or the presentation of the server itself. I am not asking to join and test it out for yourself (although that'd be appreciated too) but more of getting peoples perspectives on the servers presentation. Thanks in advance for any advice.

The link is in the signature, or if you can't see it for some reason. Click here.

[~~T~~]

I don't know if this is considered constructive, but the Card List is messed up, on a card it says:

Leaf Cat Card
Add 10% more resistance against Water property attacks.
MATK + 5%
Compound on : Headgear

A bit lower:

Leaf Cat Card
Add the chance of gaining 'Crystal Blue' each time a Fish or Shellfish monster is killed. Add 10% more
resistance against Water property attacks.
Compound on : Headgear

Same thing for The Paper.

[Spira]

Yeah I updated the card list recently, made a few mistakes; corrected now.

That helps, and correcting it will lead to less confusion.

[~~T~~]

It's sad to say but, it's the main reason why most customized servers have almost no one, people don't want to learn new stuff when it doesn't come to be official, or just it's too hard to them to make their own build. That's the reason why MouRO, ROBD and most really customized servers(I mean with customized something that isn't just custom hat and quest) doesn't have a giant community.

The irony is most of customized servers enhance partying and balancement., while lack population. On the other hand, officials got a lot of players but doesn't give a damn about Partying or Balancement. :|

[Edward]

When making a server, a creator must think of the name itself... the name is extremely important. It can't be too short and it can't be too long. Also, when a person says it out loud, it must sound catchy.

We'll take 3 examples... 'BlazingInsanityRO', 'VHXRO', 'LegacyRO'

The reason why both BlazingInsanity never took off was their name. 1st, why 'BlazingInsanity'? is it suppose to mean something? is it something special? No. From a non-technical player's perspective, they look for a server which looks like fun... they don't require this or that of it's server because it's not a job resume to them, it's about fun. It's like iPods... the name is awesome, the mp3 itself looks awesome, but the software could have been total s*** and it would have still rocked the markets.

The reason why VHX is struggling is because simply... 'VHX'. No meaning, not very special, and doesn't really make sense. Blackout did the same by naming his server Blackout, but to other people... Blackout has a meaning, and it's special cause it's about a blackout, ya know?

LegacyRO... the name itself reigns supreme. Just like the servers in the past... 'AnimaRO', 'DarkRO', and 'LegendRO'. I've never ever seen a server with the weirdest name possible have 1k+ players. The server which turned out to be a success in this new generation of servers would probably be 'FeelRO'.

The name of the server is extremely important. Even though you got the majority of players who care about this rates, this event, this max level, this and this.... you got other players who just check top sites to see which servers a lot of people enjoy the most. And 3 out of 5 times, a person will choose a server which looks fun and has an awesome name.

[Rudolph Zyaber]

How's the balance on your server?  A lot of those custom cards and gears seem to be heavy in favor of Magic based classes >>


Hmm I don't know dude, never heard of your server until you just made this thread.  Might be your advertising is too poor to get the word spread.


edit: your custom cards are somewhat similar to what I've played before and I can tell because several of the posters in your forums are people I've played with before.

[~~T~~]

How's the balance on your server?  A lot of those custom cards and gears seem to be heavy in favor of Magic based classes >>

It's because most cards gravity made give no bonus.

Also, I don't think name really matter, Imo.

[Spira]

The name: Well that's not to say vhxRO doesn't mean anything (Virtual Heroic eXperience) but yes I agree it could of been something catchier. I haven't had anyone tell me they never joined because of the name, but it's an interesting theory.

Balance: Honestly, there are only 4 official MATK cards. 3 of which casters can use, I was simply throwing the casters a bone in regards to card choice (Damage or Instant Cast). I think with things like GTB, Elemental armored armors, and other things to reduce damage should be enough. That's not to say I won't change them or keep an eye on the balance. However, at the moment there is a lack of casters. When I first opened the server, there wasn't 1 caster made for weeks (perhaps even a month?), most stuck to Snipers for farming then later made casters and other characters.

I made all the custom cards up from scratch, so not sure where else you played them at. xD

As far as advertising goes, I have threads on this forum, on other forums, second page on the high rate RMS, and even have a banner on the RMS high rate page. All of the new people I have talked to that joined, all have come from browsing RMS. Not sure where else to spread the word.

Thanks for the feedback guys. 

[Skotlex]

I haven't had anyone tell me they never joined because of the name, but it's an interesting theory.

The problem is you are unlikely to ever hear from the people who didn't join or quit early. They just go and for the most part won't bother to share why. Without player feedback, it's hard to know what needs help :<

In part it's laziness, I suppose... because, for example, I used to experience players whining and complaining about things ingame, but they never, for a second, though of voicing their problems in the forums so that an "official server stand" kind of reply could be made. But that's the nature of people, I suppose.

[Anti-Static Foam Cleaner]

It's sad to say but, it's the main reason why most customized servers have almost no one, people don't want to learn new stuff when it doesn't come to be official, or just it's too hard to them to make their own build.

Can you blame them? Putting aside the fact that people who look for RO servers usually *look for RO servers* and not for something else, MMORPGs are serious business. Usually the most sought-after feature is WoE, and since humans hate to lose, they tweak their builds to a single ATK increase. And now you ruined it all for them, their builds are worthless, and it's impossible to calculate new ones because stat sims are geared towards official stuff.

The irony is most of customized servers enhance partying and balancement., while lack population. On the other hand, officials got a lot of players but doesn't give a damn about Partying or Balancement. :|

I really don't believe server owners beat Gravity when it comes to balancing.

[Skotlex]

I really don't believe server owners beat Gravity when it comes to balancing.

You must remember that Gravity's idea of balance takes into account things that simply do not work for private servers. If you as much as use 2x drop rates, you just ruined the game. Gravity can get away with stuff like Acid Demo or Golden Thief Bug because they should be so hard to acquire, the idea of spamming them to no end is unthinkable. And yet, people still manage to do it (eg: creators would farm and collect the AD ingredients all week long only for the next woe!).

The idea of "balance" for an actual MMORPG which relies on lots of patience and grinding to award a few players very extraordinary powers totally fails for private servers because you have higher than 1x rates, and not thousands of people playing.

Therefore, yes, there is balancing to be done. And depending on what your personal opinion is regarding "balanced", RO is far from balanced anyway (this is relative, after all).

[Anti-Static Foam Cleaner]

Hah, I agree with all that. And I considered it, but it's "your fault" - you changed the rates :P

[lrellok]

ok, the first thing i do when i go to a server is check the control panel for the number of people online.  Most CP's i have seen that are of a style similar to your have the population under the server status.  Yours does not.  This might lead people to presume you currently have no players on server.  At the very least, i would be reluctant to join a server without knowing how many ppl are there.  To many and it is a mob scene, to few and the economy is dead. 

Oh, and accounts mean nothing, it is players online that ppl look for, or at least i do. 

[Tira]

Going to agree with Irellok on this - no visible online count anywhere won't be helping your case. When looking for a new server, I would automatically disregard the following without even venturing to download page or forums (not saying these all apply to you, although the online count does - but just as general criteria):

- Servers with forums in place of a website. Similarly, servers using a free host for there website (this usually, although not always, speaks volumes about how long it can be expected to survive).

- Servers whose staff evidently cannot spell (this is a generalisation, but it usually screams to me "THIS SERVER IS RUN BY 14 YEAR OLDS WHO HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THEY ARE DOING").

- Servers with no online count. I do not have the patience to download and install a server just to see 30 people when logging in and promptly leave forever.

- Servers with horrendously imbalanced donation items (although a lot of people seem to like this, so...).

It's sad to say but, it's the main reason why most customized servers have almost no one, people don't want to learn new stuff when it doesn't come to be official, or just it's too hard to them to make their own build.

One thing I don't agree with is the customisation thing. I've never had a problem with population, but the amount of modifications and additions and adjustments and general changes we've made to default eA source spans around 70 pages of topics in our development staff forum. If your server does not have official rates/level caps/blahblah, this is necessary. RO is far from balanced to start with - and when you start messing around with fundamental stuff like this it's also your responsibility to balance the server accordingly. But this has always proved rather popular with players - especially when specific classes have had their "useless" skills overhauled to bring back some build diversity, since this is usually painfully lacking on a server with non-official rates.