danolt wrote:We have no idea what is going on. We only know what has happened during our time frame. As best I can tell everything we do know is just from this "level" of the roots, meaning that we know nothing of the layered history underneath it all.
In-game, in-character, you are exactly right. However, nothing in this thread has been posted in-character (by necessity, due to the discussion).
OOC, we know what the website says, the history, and even what the factions say about themselves (which is far from believable). We also have the far-reaching ideas posted by Cohen and other staff members from times before I started playing (oki, not -that- long), which allude to a much larger picture.
Concerning Atys, everything I've been able to read and find that isn't just speculation of unsubstantiated self-claims (by each of the factions) points to my explanation that I've given. Concerning Atys and the factions.
At the moment, nothing else exists, so it's really just academic and wishful thinking at this point. It would be incredibly interesting to see how the game experience might expand with other worlds, to see homins from Atys reunited with homins from other worlds (naturally, not ALL of the homins were lured to Atys?), and so on. Did the Kitin also originate off-planet? Are they more genetic experiments of the Karavan but gone horribly wrong? Did the Karavan really bioengineer Atys? Where did Ma Duk come from? What other civilisations exist beyond Atys? Could the Karavan be at war with other forces in the universe, and Atys is a training ground for new soldiers? Is the goo a biological weapon by the Karavan's enemies? Why is it taking Jena so long to fix up her hair?
danolt wrote:4 races that historically hate and abuse each other, two ideologies that are in opposition, another species that seemingly wants to wipe us out, an untamed and unexplored planet, civilization on the rebound after catastrophe. I think an "exodus plan" would tie all that together. What better way to add to the game then creating settlements for "god and country".
The first few lines would make excellent marketing material. I hope GF will use something like that to market the game.
Depending on the degree of "exodus" you were thinking, that kind of scenario might be more appropriate if Atys were fleshed out better. Right now, it's just a shell of a world, with virtually none of its capabilities exposed for player consumption. If, after a good deal of content additions to Atys, the "Great Dragon" "awoke" and started to destroy the planet, AND no one could stop him, that might be a better time to introduce an exodus scenario. Maybe just the dragon waking up again would be enough to prompt action by the Karavan.
Perhaps cults could spring up where people believe the dragon is getting ready to awaken and the Karavan are getting ready to come and take their followers away. Or other counter-cults that believe we're all going to die, so lets cause as much chaos as possible.
But still, the civilisations seem to be mostly established enough in their own regions that they could be expected to have a good grasp of the activities there. Nobody's perfect, and only the Fyros have really colonized their region beyond the q50 zone, but it's probably a safe assumption that the civilisations control what happens in their regions. In the PR or in any new regions, who knows what might happen
I'm thinking idealistically, but also trying to ground things in reality a little. Maybe I'm not understanding what you mean, either. It sounds like the player base has been promised a lot in the past, and little was delivered. I think that the things that we've been talking about are very implementable, and some of them even crucial. (naturally, I think that about my own suggestions, but I admit to bias there)
danolt wrote:I do think we can have our cake and eat it too. I do think you can escalate the war and add mechanisms and new things for the factioned and nonfactioned playerl. I am also fairly sure it is in the works. Very few ideas presented on these forums were not in some form on the lips of someone on the development side of things. R2 is obviously a development tool, one that can could be used to create areas quickly and cheaply. I hope one day they will use it.
Pero
Yeah, I totally agree. I still think some things are critically broken, and that once GF finishes the internal foundation work (stuff we can't see but makes it possible for the game to be developed in the ways they need), hopefully they will take a hard look at some of this stuff. If they are not already doing that.
But revamping PvP as I've described (I like my own ideas, naturally, but it's still simply one possibility of many) would still allow for significant conflict and significant PvP opportunities. It would also make some of the fame missions more meaningful than they are today. And even factoring in some of the other suggestions for escalating the war, it might make PvP a little more fulfilling (?) than it is today.
There is still so much potential for Atys, that it would be a shame to see it dumped in favour of trying to rush other worlds.
And that doubles the return on the investment: you add new content and at the same time you make it a journey of sorts for the players to perform to gain access to the new content.
