The ladder has 56 occupants at present.
16 in the bottom ladder, 20 before the last reset, many of which are new accounts. Not saying they are multis, but just a bunch of newly created accounts in the lowest rank of the ladder swelling numbers.
The distribution of players in the ladder also shows us possibly areas of weakness in the game.
5 people from 500-749, only 2 from 750-999. Last reset I believe it was 3 and 3 respectively in those bands.
I think that may be indicative of a general drop off in game population at those levels. I hope not, but those areas have been consistently thinner in numbers than both below and above.
Rewards are coming in. When the big rewards roll in, it will be interesting to see if the numbers in the ladders rise. I hope they do.
If they don't rise appreciably, then Elgin, we have a problem.
It is the game numbers that bothers me more, the lack of competitors from 500-1000, and whether that reflects a simple absence of players in those levels. Folk can join, play a few hundred, get bored or distracted and stop. I have noted in my guild a decent number of really good players have joined, committed to the game, played great until 200-600 and then just fallen away. Far more join and fade instantly at level 50, but that 200-600 pattern is more worrying. It has been a long time since someone punched on through to 1000+. And then quit. Maybe it is just us! LOL!!
So this isn't really about the ladder but about the wider game. Do we need an accelerated program to get players through more than just the first 100 levels, but more like the first 1000? If so, what should it look like?
I know Gutie had some ideas a while back. Involving accelerating XP gain across the board for all players up to the 900's I think. I can't find the thread unfortunately. I think something like that has merit now, after looking at the distributions on the ladder.
Can we go as far as pay to win and have join at 1 for free, join at 250 for X$ 500 for Y$, 750 for Z$?
Or have XP events only for players under 1000 so they can play catch up and enjoy the rush of gaining levels faster? Which would also make EOC not seem quite so terribly far away.
Those could be separate events, run more frequently than the game wide 2X events (say half way between the two we have per year, so folk under 1000 would have 4 2X events a year, the rest of us over 1000 just 2.)
Or have under 1000's have a triple XP when those above have the 2X XP event. Someting to help them out.
Or complete the epic quest chain at the start of the game and have it give rewards of potions that yield 2 and 3X XP, but they are only awardable to players who are under level 500.
Anything to boost players' ability to get well advanced into the game and even out player distribution through the levels, and bring more life, and trade to all areas of the game.
Edited by Belaric, 28 August 2015 - 14:07.


