I've seen a lot of players discussing what I’m going to state below, and even gave same suggestions to other publishers before (of course I was ignored), which so far failed really hard on keeping alive the game and expanding their player base. For me - and many other players I personally know - in order to start playing again a game I loved like no other, a lot have to change. Let your comments be constructive, and avoid flaming on my personal opinion in case you don't like it. If you have no good explanation as to why you disagree with something, please stay silent and at least respect the time and effort I did put on this. Regarding Character progressing I really hope playredfox will be the publisher to realize that we don’t want to grindfest for our whole life on one single character. Many of us – if not all of us - want to explore/enjoy more roles/clans. Don’t be scared playredfox, we will still play the game after maxing our main character. I Personally tried many times to grind my character in the last two publishers, but after killing one mob and looking at my bar going up by %0.02, I would simply log out. Every 9D publisher want us to buy their item mall EXP Cards in order to progress in the game. And of course, they will throw in EXP events (2x, 3x, 4x, etc) to make you want to buy EXP cards, since they will benefit you even more during event! That is simply so wrong. That leads players logging in only during events, since only then it worth grinding/leveling up. My suggestion: a) Increase basic XP rate. Don't know how much, but %0.02 per mob feels like trolling to me.b) Increase Quest XP by a lot. Almost all latest MMO require little to no grinding to lvl up. I’m not saying to make it the same, but give a reason for someone to do a quest, especially if that quest gives nothing but only exp.c) Stop the EXP Events. Please, no more spamming of EXP Events. For God's sake, do not set 2x/3x/4x/5x events anymore. It sounds weird to ask for no events, but trust me, it only damages the game! With higher basic EXP rate, and no EXP events, you will have constant server population. Players that can’t participate in events will not feel like falling behind because they missed the awesome 1-2 days 5x exp event!! Those disappointed players sooner or later quit the game. Regarding Item Mall (Pay2Win) We get it. Publisher HAS to survive. Not only survive but also be profitable. But you need to have in mind that there are many REAL Free2Play games out there that are very successful and profitable just by selling only cosmetic items. Those games are also new, with much much more content and things to do/explore (still they never fulfilled me like 9D did..) There are really not many reasons for someone to start playing 9D currently. The bigger part of 9D player base, can afford at least $15-$20 to spend in the game. While the smaller part can afford way much more (heard about players spending $200+ in a month, and that’s were previous publishers were focusing). Me, as a casual player who can afford up to $20 maximum per month for a game, I will not even bother spend that $20, simply because it will make minimal to no difference when I’m compared to those who can afford huge money. Sooner or later I will quit. Most Pay2Win or Pay2Progress games out there, are dying because of players like me (who will quit because they can’t catch up to the big wallets) My suggestion: Remove as many Pay2Win items you can from item mall. a) Remove stats from Decos and keep them purely for cosmetic purpose. b) Remove elixirs. Bring the old acclaim elixir drop rates from bosses back. I remember the old days where people were camping bosses all across the land to get a chance on lvl3 elixirs! It was really giving a nice satisfaction when boss would drop you one.c) Pills that are giving extra attributes d) Wild Silk Clothes or any Overpowered accessories. e) Remove"Feeling lucky?" type of items No more! Lucky boxes or roulette or casino or anything that is gambling. Premium is fine to be there! Most players would buy the premium, only if they know that it’s all they need to be able to compete equally against others. Hell, they would even buy it for a little bit more expensive price in that case (at least I would) The game is in such state that many in game functionalities are directly integrated with item mall (trigrams for example have a special slot). Those items should be cheap, very cheap! Any inevitable P2W items should be accessible by anyone in small price. Scales/Tears, or any other item related to refining, shouldn't cost much as well. We already have a lot of frustration with this refining system (where you can lose your weapon), don't make it even more frustrating by overpricing these items. Remember, you are running a very old game, and not only you want to keep current player base, but also bring new players in. I think it's much better having a lot of players spending $20-$30 a month, than having only few spending $300-$400. Try to look past your nose please. See how this game can become profitable on the long run. Generally, when someone will be looking at item mall, should be able to say “That’s ok I guess, I can have everything I need to progress with $15-$25 a month”. Regarding Various Events Aftereffects Let’s be honest. How many times you missed an event (Easter or Chinese New Year etc…) only to come back and notice that some players are running around with some OP permanent gear that you will never have? Remember, always try to give returning players the feeling that they can catch up on anyone. If not, they will play for an hour, understand how others have progressed and simply close the game and never come back. My suggestion: Never leave permanent items behind after an event. At least give them an expiration date or something! Consumables are fine, anyway they are meant to be consumed and self-removed from the game. Regarding Conquerors Cave (Supposed to be PvP map) Veterans been playing since acclaim (back when cap was “FC9-FC10”, but actually was CS1 with party Quest), will remember how much fun they had grinding their last levels in CC and getting pked. Actually many guild wars started in CC. Drama was everywhere. Drama was good and additional reason to play for some - mostly for those enjoying PvP – but a nightmare for those who just want to grind and didn't enjoy PvPing. At that time, CC was for once an important map. You had to get your **** down there and fight for important accessories/loot. It was really fun, until one day the almighty blue buff made is appearance! Like it was not enough to ruin a great concept of the map, they even put all the rare accessories (that could drop in CC), under the crafting list. And just like that, everyone was running around with a full pocket set of Blood Beads of Earth. Generally speaking, since then, CC was a no-reason-to-visit map. EXP rate was bad, drop rate was not so different than the respective level-wise maps. Items you should fight for, could now be found with alternate ways. My suggestion about CC: Turn it into high risk – high reward map. a) Remove the blue buff Many people will come here and say that they will not be able to complete RTD quests. Let’s be honest guys, even if you get killed 3-4 times, nothing bad will happen to you, it’s not the end of world for you. You will eventually finish the quests. If you are camped, log out or do something else for the next 30 minutes. You will eventually finish them and go back to the PvE maps. Anyway, we all had to gather flowers in Bloody plains and get pked while doing so. Even before the blue buff appearance.b) Increase EXP rate / drop rate in CC map (mostly for Blood Essences) I always believed that blood essences should have really high drop rate to compensate the bad refining rates / disappointments you get once you break a weapon. Let's not forget how many BEs we still need for the Cloth refining as well.c) Have certain accessories only able to be obtained through CC Bosses. General Wei was also important boss long ago. Blood Bead of Earth / Damage plates and more were playing important role. That boss gave players a lot of fun / frustration / adrenaline pumps while trying to get a piece of him. GW 15vs15vs10 wars were really fun. But then, all those items suddenly appeared in the craft able items list, turning him into a useless boss. So yea, give GW his old glow please Regarding Warrior Class Let’s be honest. More than half of warriors are going to be Shaolin/Thieves. I was never able to understand why someone would make a Beggar warrior. There is nothing in their kit that would compensate for their low weapon damage (Sacred Flowers Warriors at least have ranged smashes) I don't know if Korean version warriors are more balanced between them. If so, you can let me know and ignore the rest of this section. Otherwise, I think something needs to be done to bring all warriors on the same level. Balance them finally. I have no idea how easy that would be to change, but a suggestion that comes in my mind is to balance them through the refine rates. What I mean is: Refine Success Rates Staff/Wheels > Sword/Saber > Pole/Spear Pole/Spear can still be the strongest weapon if reached highest refine level. At least LoB/SF can be also happy for reaching highest refine level easier. Feel free to give suggestions of what else can be done, I'm tired seen Shaolin/BoT warriors flooding every 9D version. I you have reached this line.. Thank you
I can not agree more, but i cant be bothered to add anything to this even tho i have several things in mind. No1 will do as we please. They will, once again, make a server lasting around 6 months getting some hardcore wallets in and close it
so i have to ask why u think lower exp is better? do u think this will draw in more people to play 9dragons? or for ur own gain?dont take this as an insult i just wanna understand why u think its better.
I think we all had enough grinding already. It's more likely to have returning players if exp is high. I don't know many who are willing to grindfest all over again....
I think we both agree that EXP events are not helping the game. With that said, i don't believe people can hit lvl cap so fast. Even if they do, they will most likely start another class, or focus on PvP. Luck of end game content shouldn't be the excuse to kill 5,000 times the same type of mob just to get one level. Just think that you will grind the same mob for probably 5 x 5,000 until you turn it into light blue (suppose you start grinding it when it turns yellow the first time). I Really don't find this healthy at all
You know, many people were fine to grind some time long time ago on dark blue mobs to get 0.01% every 2-3 mobs. But after the crazy exp events combined with exp cards, many people got spoiled with this (even me), as a result no one is going to kill a mob for 0.02% Better increase basic exp rate, so previously spoiled people are still happy, and No more exp events, to spoil them more. I understand that many players dont have time to grind during the day, and they eventually stay behind those who have no job/kids/family/studies. Even me, have only few hours per day to grind. some days i will not even be able to join. But if we want to somehow save this game, we have to do drastic changes at some time. Obviously the same recipe from previous publisher will fail again.
