WoonRO first to bring Season Merge System?

Started by Woon, Apr 15, 2021, 09:04 AM

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Woon


〉Hello everyone! /bo
My name is Nihad. If you don't know who I am, I am a game developer and active in the RO scene since before 2009. My first big project was WoonRO back then and while it hasn't been my only project up until now it's always been the one where my passion is. WoonRO had received a lot of good feedback and some of its features had been used by many other Ragnarok servers afterward. Unfortunately, I have never been able to make all of my players happy but I received a lot of nice messages and requests to open new servers. Running such a big project can be really stressful but seeing how, after all these years, there are still players who can enjoy my servers, takes away a lot of the stress and gives me excitement to try my best.
My main goal has always been to provide the Ragnarok community a stable and long-lasting server. Something they can return to and be sure their progress and hard work won't be lost.
After playing several big games, not related to Ragnarok, I believe I have found a way for this to happen while also pleasing those who seek new adventures every couple of months.
Let me introduce to you WoonRO's Season Merge System!
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〉WoonRO Season 2

WoonRO Season 2 is a near-identical copy of the existing WoonRO server.
Seasons are an optional, recurring game mode that allows you the opportunity to start fresh every few months, leveling a character from scratch without previously earned items, levels, and zeny. A great positive of the season system is reliving the initial progression and seeing a character grow in great strides. Seasons are separate from each other, and it might seem intimidating that your character will have to start fresh. None of your efforts will be wasted, however, as all your endeavors within a season — characters, items, levels, donations, zeny, etc. — will be rolled over and merged with the non-seasonal WoonRO server once the season concludes. This system can be found in various popular big games such as Archeage or Diablo.

Season 2 is scheduled for revision after 6 months. The decision on what to do with Season 2 will be determined by how active the community is and/or a community vote. A server merge will require all servers to be taken down for a few days. Our intent is to preserve all character data so that effort is never lost. The next Season will launch after 6 months independently from what happens to the previous Season.  /no1
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〉Ranking and Rewards System

Each month there will be a ranking system based on the points accumulated.
We will give real money or cash point rewards for the top 5 players and in-game rewards for the top ranked player for each eligible class.
There will also be a grand ranking system that will be set for 6 months after server launch date with cash rewards for the top 3 grand ranking players and the top ranked player of each eligible class. Eligible classes will be listed in game in the ranking system.

Getting points will be simple and for the most part automated.

  • Top 3 ranked PvP players will get points each time the PvP ranks are reset.
  • Top 3 ranked MvP players will get points each time the MvP ranks are reset.
  • You will be able to trade in BG badges for points.
  • You will be able to trade in BG cases for points.
  • Which ever guild owns a WoE castle, they can pick their WoE roster to get daily points as long as they continue to own the castle.
  • Winning KoE will also reward points.
  • You will be able to trade Zeny for points.
Other methods for accumulating points may be added in the future based on community feedback. Point quantity will be determined prior to server launch and the community was given a chance to give feedback.
It is important to point out that this is not the final system. There is still room for feedback and improvement as our launch date is still far away.
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〉WoonRO Season 1

WoonRO Season 1, also known as the Main Server, will receive all the updates from season 2 at a slight delay.
This is to avoid having to do too many updates at once so that it is all manageable.
The updates provided to Season 1 will be identical to season 2 with the exception of some core changes made prior to launching Season 2.
However, we are more than willing to implement those changes in Season 1 if requested by the community.

Once the 6 month period expires for season 2 (after we determine the next step) the previously mentioned ranking system may be implemented in season 1 if there is a request for it and the finances support it.

Some of my players on the Main Server were worried that the server wouldn't be advertised anymore but I will make sure to advertise both main and seasonal servers because they're not really separate servers in the long run.
The whole system itself will be advertised which includes the main server as well. So hopefully the main server will get some new people over time.
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Thank you for reading!

I am excited and curious to hear input from everyone.
I have been thinking about doing this project for a while as it has always hurt me deeply when the servers I made had to shut down and everyone's progress was lost in the end.
I believe that with this System I might be able to please both communities. Those who wish to find a stable server and those who wish to play on fresh servers.
Both servers will be advertised and ultimately neither of both communities ever has to fear that their hard work will be lost.  /no1


The full topic with server Information can be found in our Forum. I did not want to advertise with this topic but rather get input towards the Season Merge System.


Neffletics

#1
The merging sounds like a lot of work but I understand the purpose. I wonder how will you keep the main server 'active'? Managing one server is already tiring; can't imagine doing two. Being the devil's advocate, it looks like the main server's going to be a landfill of unwanted accounts since the newest season will always be the most active.

How about this? Instead of creating new servers every now and then, why not focus on highlighting the guild-guild competitions in the game and create competitive seasons? There will be competitions for PvM, PvP, WoE, and BG; create an eSports-like format for it. People quit because they get bored and there's nothing to look forward to.

Every season, some items and skills will be nerfed or buffed to change the meta. The game mechanics for the said competitions should evolve every season as well. In that way, you can cater to both players seeking a stable and fresh server. Creating a new server is just a band-aid solution but won't address the problem in long-term.
solacero rip

plarr

Sounds good,

I like going through and finding items I need for character perfection, and the more the items you can have for helping in that really makes the leveling progress so much more intuitive.

DASTGIR[

QuoteNone of your efforts will be wasted, however, as all your endeavors within a season — characters, items, levels, donations, zeny, etc. — will be rolled over and merged with the non-seasonal WoonRO server once the season concludes.
So if everything is rolled over, why the other season/server? I feel, this is just overhead which you are inviting, or something that isn't rolled over and not listed.

frenchbaguettey

definitely not the first to bring up season merge.

card captor ro server does it right now. the main server is left dead despite everything being carried over at end of season.

Woon

Quote from: frenchbaguettey on Apr 16, 2021, 07:19 PM
definitely not the first to bring up season merge.

card captor ro server does it right now. the main server is left dead despite everything being carried over at end of season.
I never heard of this server. Checked it out and it seems they do a different kind of season merge. Apparently, everything will be wiped except for the cards gathered during a season and you get a reward based on cards acquired? "When the season ends, all cards in your seasonal account that you don't have in the main will be transferred to the main account"
I will be advertising both main and seasonal servers. Players who don't seek to play on fresh servers every 6 months will hopefully choose the main server over the seasonal server.

Quote from: DASTGIR[ on Apr 16, 2021, 06:54 PM
So if everything is rolled over, why the other season/server? I feel, this is just overhead which you are inviting, or something that isn't rolled over and not listed.
It means there will be a fresh start every 6 months for players who prefer fresh servers. But unlike other servers that open and close servers every 6 months, your progress on our servers will never be lost because it gets rolled over to the main server.

I don't think there will be a problem with finding new players for the fresh server, because it seems the majority of the ro community prefers to play on a fresh server. I see more issues with getting new players on the main server. But I hope that with the constant advertising of the main server which will partly be funded through the seasonal servers we can also get new players to play on the main server. At least that is what I wish for.

DASTGIR[

Quote from: Woon on Apr 17, 2021, 12:11 PM
It means there will be a fresh start every 6 months for players who prefer fresh servers. But unlike other servers that open and close servers every 6 months, your progress on our servers will never be lost because it gets rolled over to the main server.

I don't think there will be a problem with finding new players for the fresh server, because it seems the majority of the ro community prefers to play on a fresh server. I see more issues with getting new players on the main server. But I hope that with the constant advertising of the main server which will partly be funded through the seasonal servers we can also get new players to play on the main server. At least that is what I wish for.

That's my point, if everything rolls over to new season, how is it FRESH server? It's merely acting like fresh server, wherein it's 6 months old with everything rolled over to new season/server.
Economy would be same, players would be same, everyone would have same items, they would continue to behave same on old vs new system, if everything gets rolled over without any change.
It seems to me like a marketing gimmick to attract players.

Woon

Quote from: DASTGIR[ on Apr 17, 2021, 12:37 PM
That's my point, if everything rolls over to new season, how is it FRESH server? It's merely acting like fresh server, wherein it's 6 months old with everything rolled over to new season/server.
Economy would be same, players would be same, everyone would have same items, they would continue to behave same on old vs new system, if everything gets rolled over without any change.
It seems to me like a marketing gimmick to attract players.

I think you misunderstood, or maybe I did not explain it properly. Everything will roll over to the main server after the season is finished. The non-seasonal WoonRO server mentioned in the OP is the main server, not the next seasonal server. So every new season starts fresh without anything, but after the season ends all the data collected will be rolled over and merged with the Main/Non-season server).

Quote from: Woon on Apr 15, 2021, 09:04 AM
None of your efforts will be wasted, however, as all your endeavors within a season — characters, items, levels, donations, zeny, etc. — will be rolled over and merged with the non-seasonal WoonRO server once the season concludes.

Insomnia2000

Is this a discussion or an ad for WoonRO? Seems like the wrong place to put this.

@"discussion" I don't think this is the first time seasons have been brought up for RO servers. I've heard it mentioned at Card Captor RO, Asgard Legend, and TitanRO already. There's some inherent problems though as pointed out here:

Quote from: frenchbaguettey on Apr 16, 2021, 07:19 PM
card captor ro server does it right now. the main server is left dead despite everything being carried over at end of season.

I don't think that any RO server has enough population to support two servers: seasonal and non-seasonal. I think the better way to do it would be to have separate seasonal characters and non-seasonal characters on the same server with appropriate restrictions based on how you decide to implement seasons.

Alternatively, just have one server that has "seasons" that shake things up so you don't have to worry about splitting populations or tons of per-character restrictions. Make sure that it's known what happens at the end of the season on this server as well. Like if characters are retained, what items are retained, etc.

Shagaru

Heard this idea pop up on multiple servers at this point.
Sounded promising at first but after experiencing the concept on other games and thinking more about it i am not really convinced it will work well with ro.
People look at Ro Servers average lifespan and the conclusion can point towards seasons beeing the natural solution to the issue but i think thats a fallacy.
Alot of people know that a Server is gonna naturally die after a couple months but i don't think people join a server on that premise. Most people join on the premise of beeing on a well managed server that is
trustworthy, competetiv, engaging and/or new. A seasonal Server in the way u described only embraces the "new" part and will come with deductions in all aspects for the original server.
I think at least for MMO's a seasonal Server next to the original Server is a good way of promotion...having a catchup mechanic for something that is already established/ well known and most importantly populated. At least LR Servers like HeRo/Talon/Nova/Origins would benefit from doing this as a 1 time thing although progression in Ro is kinda iffy since at a pretty early stage u are capped and only mvp cards or god items give u a significant boost in power. I don't know what a seasonal Server would do for u apart from what people already do (releasing new iterations of their servers after the old one dies).
I am not sure how it is for mid rates like woon but in the low rate community there needs to be a critical mass on a server to sustain a population for some people thats 100 for some its 1000. Ur basicly splitting ur community in favor for the security of having a ur progress saved on a bank somewhere which is most likely gonna be a dead bank.
With that in mind i think ur better off focusing all ur attention on 1 server and making it the best experiance ur capable of providing and if it dies at some point thats just the way it is.
Ofc if u can maintain both servers at such a level that there is no dilution of the required management and both stay interessting it could work.

tl;dr
Its gonna be a lot of work to pull off.

Woon

A lot of good points here. I really like the idea of having everyone continue playing on 1 server but just somehow marking who is seasonal and separating the multiple seasons in game. I just am not sure how this can be pulled off from a technical side. I mean you could duplicate all the maps and restrict the characters to their specific seasonal maps, but that's going to be an insane amount of strain on the server. Another way would be to instance everything but then that's not really RO as people know it.

The one benefit I would like to point out is that we can take a bit more risks with features and content. A lot of people have PMed me about their ideas and what changes they would like to see on WoonRO. This first season we are going to play it a bit on the safer side and keep the modifications relatively tamed. However in the future we can experiment with different modifications and seasonal content since everyone gets to start fresh.

As stated, a lot of servers have a much shorter life span than 6 months. Most of the people here on RMS that play mid rates have come to terms that a normal server life span is 3-6 months. Which causes a snowball effect since the players expect the server to die within that time frame and as soon as there is even a small sign of decline it leads to a rapid server decline. One of those self fulfilling prophesies. My hopes are that people can be realistic and give the server a try, since we are basically putting an end date to each season. Our monthly reward system and grand prize reward system will encourage people to play both short and long term.

A lot of this based on experience and speculation. I was personally not aware of anyone pulling something like this off successfully, so I wanted to give it a try. If it works then the RO community will gain something that has not been there until now. If it fails then it wont fail any differently from all the other server. You continue to play servers that you are fully aware will die anyway, even if people make false promises. We are not promising you a server that will last for years and some incredibly non existing features. We are offering Woon with seasons and a way to earn some prizes while doing it.

I am interested in hearing some ideas on what can be done to improve the system. The server is pretty much all finished, just cleaning up some things and finalizing the point system. So if I see some interesting ideas we may have time to work on them. It also might encourage some other owners to try something like this if they like the idea.

Sakaretsu

why the hell are you using genshin images? cmon man

anyway, what kind of updates are you talking about when starting a new season and merging them into the main server? is it just existing RO content released slowly, or are you adding custom content and balancing into the game such as new skills, areas, balance changes, etc?