#dropping a map and new character once a year and a balance patch quarterly (if that) is easier and cheaper

[awkward-teabag]

I think part of it is TF2 wasn't about rank-climbing, there weren't class limits (unless you played on a server that had them), and the match time limit was more about changing things up (unless you played on a 24/7 server) than cramming in as many games as possible.

Team sizes were also larger than what modern hero shooters are.

So while there were elements we'd now consider part of the hero shooter (FPS, class-specific abilities/weapons, archetypes, etc.) it was still mostly an arena-based FPS and considered to have RPG elements added in (classes, different class-specific weapons, cosmetics, etc.)

Sure there were loot boxes but the point was that you played for fun and if that meant you got stuck on single map because RED kept bunkering, that was what would happen. There wasn't a battlepass to care about or push to knock out as many games as possible for fear of missing out on battlepass XP or having your ELO dip.

It was also designed so people could drop-in or leave and would auto-balance which, combined with larger team sizes, made it less punishing to a team if someone had to leave or decided to AFK because they got tilted.

Like with MOBAs, hero shooters have a major problem with people getting spiteful and punishing their team for it.

My experience with TF2 was it was a game you could play solo or team up with strangers, so if a member of your team got pissy, people could compensate or switch to being more solo play. It wasn't the same all-but-guaranteed loss the way it is in hero shooters—team numbers only mattered so much and it wasn't uncommon for teams with fewer players to still win.

Hero shooters feel so generic and it's largely companies chasing a trend where the goal is not to make a fun game, it's to find something players (seem to) like and monetizing the hell out of it.

TF2 wasn't flawless but it was built to be fun first, make money second. The foundation was laid when it was supposed to be an enjoyable game that people had to buy to play. It only became free-to-play later and ramped up on the cosmetics when it was F2P but it was still built around being an alternative to FPS games at the time.

There was only so far Valve could go when the foundations were set and there was an established playerbase that may not follow to a remake or stick with TF2 if the whole game was overhauled to focus on money.

Companies don't have those restrictions if they're building a game from scratch and don't even have a playerbase to consider.

Honestly have never truly understood the appeal of hero shooters. There’s something about the Overwatch/Battleborn/Concord/Apex formula that just doesn’t get me excited at all.

Maybe it’s the forced lore that’s not really present in-game because they want you attached to a character to sell cosmetics until the end of time.

Maybe it’s the heroes abilities which are a nightmare from a balance perspective, and I just generally dislike engaging with multiplayer metas.

Maybe extraction games are just ass because they always just devolve into death matching anyway.

A good example is Battlefield. The worst thing that ever happened to Battlefield was releasing Battlefield 2042 and making every character some quippy marvel-esque douche with a super specific skill. Early playtests from the new battlefield looks like it’ll be a return to form.

Anyway, down with hero shooters, we must return to the glory of Quake arenas and old-school team death match.

[writingonjorvik]

Ideas w/ Amelia

I haven’t really been up to a full-fledged Can We Discuss lately, but I didn’t want to just vanish for a while with my move coming up without posting anything. So, here’s a smattering of ideas I think would be cool for SSO.

Change the transport system for Jorvik’s overworld to work like Jorvik’s city, clicking on locations on the map to go to instead of scrolling through the list.

Fix the prices between the Friends app and the website so that they’re the same on both. Also reduce the price of Star Coins so they make sense with other pricing in the game and in the industry.

Co-op wagon races where one person maintains the horses and the other controls the wagon.

Make a permanent version of the Cloud Kingdom with a Mario Kart style race with pickups and other items for more interesting multiplayer racing, then bringing the system down to a select number of regular races, like the Big 7 (the seven races that are always for birthday races and the most iconic).

Switch to an expansion based model instead of weekly updates to reduce major burnout and turnaround on the dev team, since the weekly update model is regarded to be extremely demanding by the industry as a whole. Or instead of expansions, have quarterly updates that add a large amount of quests and content, with weekly patches being for events and bug fixes.

Make a forum or a subReddit to host more AMA style events, particularly since it seems the devs are now responding to all kinds of feedback, positive and negative, and I really appreciate this and want to be able to engage more with them outside their emailing system. Having a forum for ideas would also reduce the influx of emails they have to respond to and simplify the reporting system.

Have an ingame reporting system for players with a prompt and drop down dialogue before reporting to reduce spamming, but also overall simplify the process. Also, as illustrated by the photo mode, being able to screenshot from inside the game is totally an option now.

Allow players to change their emails without contacting support.

Update all horse models that have two to just having the new one. This will help simplify the image of the game and also open up space in a lot of cluttered stables. It also will reduce the feeling of SSO just making new horses to sell more horses, which considering that they cost $30 USD apiece, feels grimy. It also reduces the amount of modeling the devs have to do when coding for all the old models as well as new ones. Long term benefits.

For “luxury”/expensive models, have more breed specific races. If you’re spending $30+ USD on a horse, you ought to get some other content. That’s as much as some game’s expansion packs.

Now that jumping is free, leading should be too. I said this before, and I’ll say it again, being able to use leading in content is an outstanding option and it shouldn’t continue to be locked behind a pay wall.

Now that jump is free, expand the free to pay area to include all of Silverglade. Don’t expand the quest list, but expand the area. Considering SSO’s two main features are its story and exploration, being able to explore all of Silverglade, make friends, look around, and meet NPCs feels like more of an incentive to buy membership than having such a restricted region. If there’s no increase to quests or dailies, being a free member is still less exciting than having membership, and they won’t have access to other areas like the Harvest Counties or South Hoof. But being able to see the areas they could unlock feels like more of an incentive to buy than the area that they have now.

Add an experience multiplier based on player level to horse experience. This gives players more of a reason to level, and it also helps balance out experience gain for higher level players who tend to have lots of horses. It also reduces the need for the devs to balance out experience gain. Also this tech is already in the game as shown by the old system where the starter horse received more experience in races than any other type of horse.

Give the player the option to have multiple character slots. This provides the game with so much replay-ability with out the price tag of additional membership.

Allow players to make up their own character name, and change it. There would need to be a new team dedicated to approving names, and players could have temporary names in the SSO system in the meantime, but it would allow players to personalize their characters more, and for players who joined before a wide range of names were an option, allow them to pick names they would actually want.

Update races with set pieces, like the Baroness Race Track. SSO adds new set pieces all the time for races, having two versions of the Baroness Race Track shouldn’t be that hard. If parts of the map can be reworked to have temporary obstacles for championships and races that only affect the racers, then this should be possible for this race too, and other old races.

Bring back the Scarecrow Hill Race. Again.

Update the Social tab.

Update the Help tab.

Capes, cloaks, and hoodies that take up shirt and hat spot, with the option to remove the hood.

Full body dresses and robes that take up the shirt and pants slot.

More mane hair styles. This one has been promised for a while.

Have official social media correspondents on Twitter and Tumblr. It’s almost 2019 and your Twitter is dead. It’s marketing 101 to have correspondents on all major platforms, and you don’t. This is your best access to community and marketing, why aren’t you doing this?

Stop with the “Girls > Boys” mentality. All genders are equal, and what you’re actually doing isn’t helping the feminist cause and it’s pandering. Take one from Shannon Hale on this. Boys can enjoy feminine things, and pressing this divide only hurts the argument. It also drives away potential customers.

Take the time to release new areas properly. South Hoof and Mistfall are aesthetically beautiful, but are barren gameplay wise, and we’re now going to have to wait years to see them finished.

Stop adding factions if players can’t 100% them.

Rebalance poorly balanced factions like the Sunfields and the Goldspurs.

Allow players to make their own orienteering races with friends using the waypoint tech.

Update inaccessible locations on the map list of locations. Some of these locations have been inaccessible for over four years now, like the “Not all that glitters is gold” location in Dino.

The player almost never takes damage. There’s no need for two health bars.

Make the library at the Winery useful and let us reread lore books to help remember story info between when that story info was used last and when it’s being brought back into the story.

A thrift store that lets you buy back items from quests, using the tech from the Lifetime store.

Have increased option control for players with good gaming rigs, like allowing for an increased render distance or being able to decide how many players are rendered at once and to what detail. SSO already has a loading period for adding detail to players, so for players with less advanced hardware, being able to lower down this detail rendering would make it easier to visit higher population areas. And for players with better rigs, it makes the game prettier.

If the devs want to promote less populated servers, then host events on those servers.

Redo Nic’s camp to use the Rescue Ranch system. Generally add more Rescue Ranch style quests in other areas.

Let the player jump while on foot. It adds almost nothing to gameplay, but it makes them feel like clunky. It also would help community classics like foot races.

Add left saddlebags.

Stylists should be able to mirror mane styles, so that the mane can fall on either side.

Players should either have to read quest dialogue after level 9 to know what they have to do or they shouldn’t. Quit waffling.

Achievements should have rewards, like titles, unique clothes, or access to hidden quests.

Bring back hidden quests.

If there are going to be cold resistant horses, then there should be other horses with abilities like that. Heat resistant horses, horses good at climbing with pass that only they can climb at full speed, horses that can cross bodies of water without a meter. If you’re going to make a system like that, then you gotta flesh it out.

And now I’ve been working on this list for over two hours, so I’m gonna leave it there so I still have something to talk about in Can We Discuss. Cool. Bye.