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Emergency System

Discussion in 'Wishlist' started by Danton, Mar 20, 2011.

  1. Danton

    Danton Active Member Pro Users

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    It is an ongoing pain, that some ppl are scamming the weakest of players, the noobs. When a noob get stucked and dont know about a Forum where he/she can cry for help, there is a great chance that he/she wil log off and never come back. It is important for all of us Community, PP and MA, that we get as many new ppl as possible.

    Because of the thread below, I'll ask Arkadia crew for the following suggestion. My trust in Customer-Care at PCF is gone. Maybe you as a PP can request such a system.
    http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?208892-Offer-to-New-players-getting-stuck.


    An ingame "emergency-system" would be great. Not every noob is reading Forums.

    Suggestion:
    You -as the rescue part- can subscribe ingame to the emergency system and each call from someone who is in trouble shows up in a list ingame (like FL or Eventlist etc.)
    By click on it in the list, you can talk to the one in trouble via privat chat directly.
    Some fine tuning needed maybe....

    Addition from thread about Spamming such a system have followed, so to prevent spamming such a system:

    One possibility is, to limit the access to crying for help to a specific max. level of skills. Ppl above xx point of agy or hp can not use it.
    But as I wrote: Some fine tuning will be needed.
    Another Addition: (original can by watched at above link)

    Another Addition:

    a low (1 pec) tt radio with 10 uses? free to noobs as part of a mission...
    access to a "broadcast" available to folks with over 5 mentoring skill? (when it returns)
    (original can by watched at above link)

    A System like this can be added using some tools that are already included, by example the Quest/Mission system with some additional code.

    Would be nice to hear what Arkadia Developers think about this, or if the team thinks that there are reasons why it should not be implemented?

    Regards,
    Ron
     
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  2. Max EJ

    Max EJ Member

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    I think it will just simplest to make a button for those who stuck,
    and when they click it, it tells em to go to the forum thread and write there.

    All that you proposing, will make it possible for abusers to spam with it.
    Theres a lot of em as new players, so skill restrictions won't work.
     
  3. RAZER

    RAZER Active Member Pro Users

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    I would say post about the forum on the client loader, make a nice banner for it and link to a thread in this forum. That way everybody will see it.

    something like this:
    View attachment 468
     
  4. XeroX

    XeroX Active Member Pro Users

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    yeah that seems like the best solution for the developers since it is very time efficient. However they would need to find ppl who are willing to form an "Arkadia Rescue Team". ;)
     
  5. RAZER

    RAZER Active Member Pro Users

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    Well I usually go and help someone out that is posting it in the forums (if nobody else is already doing that), but they are spread out all over the forums and if they would be in a fixed spot that would be very nice and helpful to both parties.
     
  6. David | Arkadia

    David | Arkadia Administrator Staff Member PAF Administrator Planet Arkadia Official

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    It's a good discussion you started here Ron. I think there are multiple solutions to the problem. Firstly a system as you suggested would need MA to build it, so I couldn't get something like that done before launch without causing delays (and I know no one wants delays atm). But shouldn't be ruled out longer term.

    I do agree with what you guys say, in that informing people about the forum is a good and simple first step. The client loader is a good suggestion. We can also put signs in game telling people about the forum and I'm considering putting it into one of the training missions. The concern is striking a balance between immersion and information to help the players. If we limit mentioning the forum in-game to just the new player training area/s then I think it works fine - what do you think?

    I'll speak to Vantastic about making a sticky thread for people to post if they get stuck.

    Now, the other side of this equation is to address the reasons why people need help in the first place. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, especially those who have been out there doing some rescues. Why are new players calling for help? I know I had the experience myself when I was new and got stuck out west of Fort Troy - Nicole Tony Dantrag came to my rescue. In turn I found a number of times when I helped people who were stuck. I have to be honest, I had only been playing a few days, I got brave and ran south and got stuck and questioned whether I should stick with the game - I didn't find out about the forum/s until I had been playing for many weeks, so didn't think to go there to ask for help.

    So in regards to having outposts where people get stuck - do you think that is a good thing? or just better to design the areas so that there is a way out from every outpost/revival? I can assure you that there will be turrets at every revive.
     
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  7. Atlan Leticron

    Atlan Leticron Active Member

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    Hello David,

    I did a lot of rescues back in the day, and even today.
    The reason why most get stuck is: they revive at a outpost in the midle of a hard spawn and with no way out.
    On old Eudoria I even had a route which I followed when I had some time to spare.
    This route included all the "hard to leave" outposts.

    As far as I can see, its not per say the terrain that makes it difficult, but the type of mob and location of spawn.
    Some outposts are almost in the center of a spawn which makes it hard or even impossible to leave for a newbie.
    For example, this happens a lot on the land area's on Amethera, where most of the revival points are at the land management in the center of the LA.

    When I reach Arkadia, I will pick up the rescue duty's again.
    At least, if they are needed of cause.

    I hope this helps a bit.

    Regards,
    Ion
     
  8. Larkin

    Larkin Platinum Member Staff Member PAF Senior Mod Platinum Member

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    That sounds like a good idea to have it in game, but to keep it in the new player area.

    Being stuck at an outpost rarely is a good thing :D I think that if possible, it would be good to have some sort of escape route. However as Atlan said, it's the mobs that cause players to get stuck. It might be hard to follow through for all OPs. Maybe try to make the OPs close to the new player area all have ways to get out?
     
  9. KillerDawg

    KillerDawg Active Member Pro Users

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    I know I am still a noobie, but I have made rescues of my soc mates when they could not get past the mobs for whatever reason. I think naming every outpost, "outpost" is a bad idea. Give them some type of name so they are easier to find. A way to locate them on the in game map would of course be a plus. I'm sure your team has already thought about that.
    Another idea, is it feasible to create links or some way to send a skype message to members of the rescue squad. Even if it just a broadcast message to everyone online to check the thread, with a link to the thread? I usually hunt, and I sometimes get blinders and miss the in game chats completely, at least with skype it will give an alert that you have a message or that you need to check the forums as someone is in need of your assistance. Anything that would help the rescuer get to the stranded colonist faster is good.

    Not sure its any help, but those are my thoughts anyway. While I am not currently a volunteer in any rescue team, I can make the time to help when I am online so sign me up too.
     
  10. Larkin

    Larkin Platinum Member Staff Member PAF Senior Mod Platinum Member

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    Very true. It would be very useful to have different names for all the different outposts.


    Oh and sign me up for the Arkadian rescue team as well; I'm sure I'll be able to help out here and there :)
     
  11. Cyborg Bill

    Cyborg Bill Well-Known Member Pro Users

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    There is a very simple solution here.

    First adress the reason new players get stranded. The poorly thought out revive lines and what is within their boundries. The nub goes out hunting snables in one section of land within a revival area. Here he has just crossed from a different revive area. He dies and spawns at the new revive he did not know about because he changed revive zones. That revive is farthest away from where he started and in an area where larger mibs then he can handle spawn.

    My suggestion would be very simple. Keep revive lines set to areas that hlod certain levels of mobs. If this cant be done my second thought would be set revives in the center of every zone and if different levels of mobs are there at least there is an option to head to the least strong mobs to get out. For example the revive is in the center of the zone.. to the south west where the nub wandered in from would be the snables he was hunting and maybe a few snarksnots added to build difficulty levels. To the north there are berc and small atrax heading away from revive. To the east you may have feffoids and bigger molisk with each mob leading to the next larger one as you get further away from a newb starting town.

    The crap w have now with all the mission mobs stuffed all over is you have a big spawn of merp or some ewasy mob and in the pile of easy mobs these morons spawn Atrox...WTF retraded crap is that? Things like that are what get the nub stranded and want to either quit or be frustrated from the very start of his in game experience.

    Simple thought and planning can stop many of the redundant issues in this game. Sadly it has been run by that evil dungeon master (MArco) you hated playing with because you knew EVERY session you played with him it was a garantee he was gonna find a way to kill off yer favorite character.
     
  12. Chiba

    Chiba Member

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    If it is a noob, who is just trying out the game... Do you REALLY think he will go to a forum and ask for help?

    I promise you 90% of everyone who get stuck rather just log out and never come back and say "What a shit game....".


    Make it possible to report spam using the system instead, set a limit, like if agility is greater than 50, you can not use this system as requesting for help.. if you are 50+ agility, you can help others....


    If someone spams it, have a time limit and report spam button.... If you have spammed it and it got reported and really got sentenced or w/e you call it... block the user from using the rescue system ever again :D
     
  13. Telgard

    Telgard Member

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    Simple solution? That seems like it could get complicated or just plain messy especially in areas where LA's are own by players.

    I'll refer you to my suggestion for improved maps because it can easily be reworked to achieve multiple end goals.

    Just add in another app to the mapping device mentioned above that allows you to toggle the difficult of different areas on the map based on revive zone area, and mob maturity / density. ...This would be such that the area would just show a difficult rating for each area but all locations, and mobs would be hidden until seen, touched, or killed by them.

    Also... another suggestion would be to have the land areas developed in such a way that the continent has noob areas that slowly give way to average mob areas that slowly give way to hard mob areas that slowly give way Satan auto-spawn areas.
     
  14. RAZER

    RAZER Active Member Pro Users

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    I got stuck a lot back in the days and to be honest I did not mind that to much. I still remember the feeling of VICTORY when I finally got out. With all the vehicles and stuff people are spoiled these days, when I was young people needed walk (or use a TP chip) to come and get you and walk you out through all the big bad mobs, now that was fun !

    Getting stuck somewhere teaches you an important lesson about mobs and how to evade them (keep them out of the 50m circle on your radar) and also teaches you tramwork and it is all part of the game, but I agree that some people might quit the game if they get stuck, but I wonder how long they would last anyway if a little setback like that will make them leave.

    Anyway, a banner in the client loader, somewhere on the forum and in the beginner area would be a good start. Maybe you can cycle it with the global adds to, if we have those on Arkadia. And a sticky thread here on the forum in the newbie section maybe, maybe even a spoken add mixed in the Arkadia music.
     
  15. red

    red Member

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    I'm going to have to agree with many of the others that the usual cause for being trapped in an area is due to poor design and layout.

    i - bad revive lines
    ii) inadequate 'protection' at the revive (no turret or it's pvp).
    iii) poor placement of the animal spawn points (concentration is too close to revive point)

    sure, some can purposely be a little difficult, but they shouldn't be overly frustrating for a new person. there should be at least one possible path that's not impossible to identify.
     
  16. Telgard

    Telgard Member

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    I) Closest Revive should be the revive point.
    II) All revives should have a turret and be partially pvp free up to a certain distance around each revive.
    III) If concentrated to close to the revive then run them into the turrets. If farther away from the turret, lure them into a position that allows you to make a path.
    IV) If Hogglo type spawn are around... yea..good luck with the above. That is what vehicles and mayday calls are for. Perhaps some revives should have beacons that send up a bright as hell light into the sky when someone is stuck there. LoL
     
  17. Atlan Leticron

    Atlan Leticron Active Member

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    I grew up in the day's that you had to walk/run, there was not even MF for a tp chip.
    But over the years a lot has changed.

    In the old day's, you could indeed learn from the mob's and sneak around them keeping out of there agro range.
    But today some spawns are so dense that became impossible in some places.
    To avoid one you run into three others.

    So biggest problem is spawn placing and density, that is where people get stuck.
    I agree that every revival/outpost should be a save haven with gun turrets and no pvp.

    Revival lines are important for running.
    It is very frustrating to run a long stretch and almost reach the next place and get killed just outside that revival area.
    Than you find yourself back at the place where you started.

    And frustrated people leave the game.

    Regards,
    Ion
     
  18. red

    red Member

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    that's not always the case. but, yes, it should be. it cuts down on the surprises.

    yes, but sometimes, the density all around is such that you can keep doing this and you'll never clear a path outside of the spawn. you need to have the automated gun turret as well. but, again, some thought in design will fix that. one can't expect everyone to have a teleport chip.

    like atlan, when I started there were no such things and we had to get out by wits. sometimes it took hours, but for me, this was part of the puzzle. there's a balance of sorts that should be achieved. I guess that isn't possible on player owned lands. they'll do as they wish.
     
  19. MindStar9

    MindStar9 Deactivated User

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    I'm from back in the day as well, and I remember how challenging it was in some places, but it made it adventurous, even though frustrating at times. It was Fort Zeus that presented the greatest challenge to us with the Neconu and bots. Trying to maneuver between mobs without causing an agro was adrenaline-pumping. There was no way we could make a straight run to the coast at the beach in order to go South to Caravan without major issues. I think what was more fun was the voice chat during all of these adventures, and how much we laughed ourselves silly ... oh, and the many expletives that popped up now and then ... ok, more than now and then. :p

    I really like the idea of outposts and revives having turrets and being a safe place in order to at least regroup if necessary to figure out a plan, or call for help if needed. Not sure what can be done about revive lines though ... there will always be areas where you aren't close enough to the next section in order to revive there if you die, right? How could that be changed to make it better? Just curious, because I think we've all had that frustration at one time or another ... especially before mindforce came into play, and perhaps it's the same for current day since newbies and others can't or don't use mindforce.
     
  20. Cyborg Bill

    Cyborg Bill Well-Known Member Pro Users

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    What you guys arer over looking specially us older ones reminicing...

    We didnt have to deal with the massive spawns of shit mobs for all these missions now that are covering a major portion of all the land on Calypso. Back when I started the densist of areas were not half as populated as most of the smaller spawns are today. I challenge anyone of you to go to fury, fly, drive, or what ever to get revived at that south west op where my nephew got stuck with that moron trying to extort ped from him and walk back to fury even with your armor and weapons.

    Anyway the great minds at mindfart have out done them selves with their idiocy in writing a mission specificly sending first week nubs into that mess and need a serious kick to the balls for doing so.