Remove SSI from the game.
As an observant (of 7+ years active playing and logging in daily), please let me advise you that this is quite possibly the single sole factor that is causing new blood to your game to actually leave rather than stay.
Yes, that is what I request if you wish to retain and see online activity increase. Remove SSI from the game, it is detrimental and has proved as such during the years it has been active.
Before such a 'saviour' was introduced into the game mechanics, it was flourishing. The game provided interest and mental agility to progress along with the precious knowledge given by peers who had 'been there,done that and bought the t-shirt'.
What we have now is limited knowledge being passed on (if lucky enough to find BORED players who hang about to chatter and chirp) which consists of:
1) Join this or that guild, which will give you this or that gear.
2) Get this and that skills active but always get SSI and you are good to 'go'.
That's it! New player is then thrown in the deep end and SSI saves their backside while they are bumbling about. Instead of learning the mechanics of the game, having a moment of 'WTF how and why did I die?', they exhaust their stamina and get BORED waiting for more stamina to enable them to continue.
What should be occurring to retain activity is players jumping into the deep end, dying and asking 'wtf' in the global/guild chat seeking solutions as to how to survive.
That moment of being given knowledge of how stats/gear/skills work as a combo to help you survive 90% of combats in PvE is crucial and is what gets players hooked..they sit back and think hmmm what is going on here, how do I get around this? Natural human curiosity comes into play and grips 'gamers'.
As it stands, since the introduction of SSI, new (and old) players burn through their stamina then log out and basically FORGET to log back in again because there is no challenge whatsoever, there is no 'calling' in place to demand their attention.
There are, admittedly, many other aspects that alienate new players, many of which are fundamentally caused by the community themselves. However, lets get
to the crux of the matter with regard to retention of players that womble in as a 'newbie'. Return the aspect of thought to the game, remove the saviour in PvE combat of SSI and watch!
As FS 'goes mobile', not only do you want accessibility for the upcoming generation to 'hook onto', you also need the accessibility of 'brain power' to be included.
Without that 'marriage' of fundamental interconnectedness to grip the human mind along with ease of access, then you will fall flat on your arse.
C'est la vie.
I truly hope that you consider this request to remove a 'bad component' from your game, seriously.
Edited by DirtyChick, 05 November 2015 - 04:28.