So I just finished discovering every biome we currently have (no pics no proof) and thought I'd give my thoughts on the new world and the role-playing event. Some of them have already been expressed and addressed by Cryptite and other admins but I will voice them again just to have them written down.
First of all here are some screenshots of a few of the biomes:
Secondly, my thoughts on the role-playing event. The first part of the event that began on September 12th was very well done. It was unique, had good sound effects, and I enjoyed the battle with Preksak. Honestly I think I'd rather have been Preksak for that fight because charging up your sword and blasting everyone within a 10 block radius into the sky looked way too fun. My only complaint is that when the event first began we thought we were being referred to the Rift when we were actually supposed to be going to the Ice Rift. Other than that 10/10 would RP again.
The second half of the RP that happened this past Saturday wasn't quite so smooth. It began with the appearance of Preksak who slew a number of us at spawn causing us to lose our armor. This wouldn't have been a problem if we weren't going to later repeat the battle that happened a week earlier, but because we did the battle was much more difficult and time consuming. I think if inventory loss had been turned off before Preksak began killing the event would've progressed at a much better pace. Unless the intention was for this battle to take longer? But if that's the case I would try to keep future events around 30 minutes long or less. People get bored and lose focus after that.
Obviously the fact that we could destroy the spawn tower was an issue. I wouldn't necessarily prevent that from happening again as it does add some interaction with the environment but the use of bedrock would be wise.
Overall I think the event was well done, especially so considering the time constraints and pressure the staff was under at the time. For volunteers you all do a whole lot of work.
Next up is Aladra, the spawn town. The tutorial is very basic and I'm on the fence about this but I think that's actually good. Most people want to jump right into a server and not be forced through a tutorial of some kind. On the other hand though, I'm sure our old Slicer course did weed out a lot of people that would be too easily discouraged by our server environment and would either cause trouble or quit almost immediately. I guess we'll just have to see how it works out.
The quest system is a cool concept but its current implementation is frustrating to those using it for the first time. There needs to be some sort of progression in place so you can't start quests out of order and any broken quests or quests that cannot be completed at the moment should be disabled. I've lost count of the number of players spamming chat with questions about Tasp's sister. I also noticed a number of typos and the names of the quests should probably be reevaluated. I'm aware that a quest log and quest indicators are a priority which will help, but a lot needs to be done to make this content which will be many player's first impression of the server up to par.
On a related note, what the heck are Loti and Akusar for?
My favorite new feature is the ships. They are well constructed aesthetically and are engaging to the players. It feels like you are actually setting sail to a new land. They and the continents create a very unique environment that I've yet to see on a server. Each continent is its own world which provides the foundation for the towns on each continent to create their own community with their own rules. And yet, everyone is still connected which is essential. With the increased difficulty and rarity of resources we have to work together to live and build. No one, not even a lone wolf like myself, can get by alone anymore.
10/10 would sail again.
As for the continents themselves, I enjoyed seeing all of the biomes. I heard a lot of complaints from people seeing only jungles and plains but if you take the time to explore the world you will find some very, very cool places. For the most part transitions between biomes were done well. There is one transition in particular that could use some work, but I will have to find it again as I forget where it is. I do wish there were more bodies of water within the continents and I think tall grass could've been used more frequently as some of the biomes seem just a little too bare. My biggest complaint is actually more of a pet peeve and that is the placement of a particular cluster of rocks I designed for the map. This cluster has a few vines hanging off of it, but has been placed in almost every single biome including snowy ones. C'mon Crypt. You couldn't have made a copy without vines?
One area that could be improved significantly is the nether. It needs more trees, I think, but of a different variety than the one we currently have. If you're open to adding more perhaps it can be opened back up to the community and we can try our hand at creating some. It's also weird having a blue sky above our heads. Can that be changed at all? Lastly, relative to the other continents it is extremely easy to gather resources in the nether. Of all the biomes I feel like the nether should be the hardest to survive. The two ideas I have currently is a damage over time effect similar to the Rift and/or a blindness effect caused by the smoke that I'm sure is everywhere in such a hellish environment. It'd make travel more dangerous and it'd be more difficult to see other players around you. Also, the use of water needs to be fixed.
Overall I think this new world has been very well crafted and I am eager to see what else you guys come up with in the form of biomes, quests, and other features. When most of the bugs have been squashed and a few things patched up I think there is potential for this to be a very successful server.
Thanks to all of those involved in the making of this world and if you'd like my/our thoughts on anything else just ask away.
First of all here are some screenshots of a few of the biomes:
Secondly, my thoughts on the role-playing event. The first part of the event that began on September 12th was very well done. It was unique, had good sound effects, and I enjoyed the battle with Preksak. Honestly I think I'd rather have been Preksak for that fight because charging up your sword and blasting everyone within a 10 block radius into the sky looked way too fun. My only complaint is that when the event first began we thought we were being referred to the Rift when we were actually supposed to be going to the Ice Rift. Other than that 10/10 would RP again.
The second half of the RP that happened this past Saturday wasn't quite so smooth. It began with the appearance of Preksak who slew a number of us at spawn causing us to lose our armor. This wouldn't have been a problem if we weren't going to later repeat the battle that happened a week earlier, but because we did the battle was much more difficult and time consuming. I think if inventory loss had been turned off before Preksak began killing the event would've progressed at a much better pace. Unless the intention was for this battle to take longer? But if that's the case I would try to keep future events around 30 minutes long or less. People get bored and lose focus after that.
Obviously the fact that we could destroy the spawn tower was an issue. I wouldn't necessarily prevent that from happening again as it does add some interaction with the environment but the use of bedrock would be wise.
Overall I think the event was well done, especially so considering the time constraints and pressure the staff was under at the time. For volunteers you all do a whole lot of work.
Next up is Aladra, the spawn town. The tutorial is very basic and I'm on the fence about this but I think that's actually good. Most people want to jump right into a server and not be forced through a tutorial of some kind. On the other hand though, I'm sure our old Slicer course did weed out a lot of people that would be too easily discouraged by our server environment and would either cause trouble or quit almost immediately. I guess we'll just have to see how it works out.
The quest system is a cool concept but its current implementation is frustrating to those using it for the first time. There needs to be some sort of progression in place so you can't start quests out of order and any broken quests or quests that cannot be completed at the moment should be disabled. I've lost count of the number of players spamming chat with questions about Tasp's sister. I also noticed a number of typos and the names of the quests should probably be reevaluated. I'm aware that a quest log and quest indicators are a priority which will help, but a lot needs to be done to make this content which will be many player's first impression of the server up to par.
On a related note, what the heck are Loti and Akusar for?
My favorite new feature is the ships. They are well constructed aesthetically and are engaging to the players. It feels like you are actually setting sail to a new land. They and the continents create a very unique environment that I've yet to see on a server. Each continent is its own world which provides the foundation for the towns on each continent to create their own community with their own rules. And yet, everyone is still connected which is essential. With the increased difficulty and rarity of resources we have to work together to live and build. No one, not even a lone wolf like myself, can get by alone anymore.
10/10 would sail again.
As for the continents themselves, I enjoyed seeing all of the biomes. I heard a lot of complaints from people seeing only jungles and plains but if you take the time to explore the world you will find some very, very cool places. For the most part transitions between biomes were done well. There is one transition in particular that could use some work, but I will have to find it again as I forget where it is. I do wish there were more bodies of water within the continents and I think tall grass could've been used more frequently as some of the biomes seem just a little too bare. My biggest complaint is actually more of a pet peeve and that is the placement of a particular cluster of rocks I designed for the map. This cluster has a few vines hanging off of it, but has been placed in almost every single biome including snowy ones. C'mon Crypt. You couldn't have made a copy without vines?
One area that could be improved significantly is the nether. It needs more trees, I think, but of a different variety than the one we currently have. If you're open to adding more perhaps it can be opened back up to the community and we can try our hand at creating some. It's also weird having a blue sky above our heads. Can that be changed at all? Lastly, relative to the other continents it is extremely easy to gather resources in the nether. Of all the biomes I feel like the nether should be the hardest to survive. The two ideas I have currently is a damage over time effect similar to the Rift and/or a blindness effect caused by the smoke that I'm sure is everywhere in such a hellish environment. It'd make travel more dangerous and it'd be more difficult to see other players around you. Also, the use of water needs to be fixed.
Overall I think this new world has been very well crafted and I am eager to see what else you guys come up with in the form of biomes, quests, and other features. When most of the bugs have been squashed and a few things patched up I think there is potential for this to be a very successful server.
Thanks to all of those involved in the making of this world and if you'd like my/our thoughts on anything else just ask away.
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