Why the game is dying and will die if nothing changes.

[VaisselleSale]

Hi everyone.

Some of my friends and myself have returned to the game since about a year now and we made sure to bring some more friends along the way to join us in our kingdom. We ended up being 7 friends that know one another in the same kingdom. 5 of these people including myself are returning users from more than 10 years ago.

Back in the days the game had way more diversity (races, personalities) and a lot more people played it.

We quickly noticed some kingdoms were underpopulated (1-2-3 provinces per kingdom) or completly overpopulated (25 strong active). Some changes were clearly made to the game to make it easier/more appealing/smoother to players but some other changes are just plain frustrating nonsense.

The game should be as noob-friendly as possible :

- The game doesn't have ANY graphics, which make a LOT of people not want to try it and once they try it they can't do anything for a few days. It needs to be fun right off
- The game should have some tutorial, some way to learn how it works instead of just tossing you into a random kingdom that usually doesn't even want to help you.
- The game should have experienced, positive players with a different status, that are responsible of new players and looking at abusive behaviors.


Those already are big problems but they can somehow be ignored if you put enough attention on a new player to make him continue playing until he is relevant (We all know how long that can be) in a kingdom. And then you start waving kingdoms with that new guy and he's happy to attack and grow and such. But then it happens : He hits in a top 5-10 kingdom because he doesn't know THE UTOPIA RULE :

IF YOU HIT IN A TOP 10 KINGDOM, THEY WILL BULLY YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD, RETALLING ONE HIT WITH 10 AND ASKING FOR 5000 ACRES IF YOU SEND A CEASE FIRE OR TRY EVEN A BIT TO DEFEND YOURSELVES.

And after your kingdom's monarch as agreed to give the 5000 acres and that other absurdly selfish kingdom as taken your fun and power away, well, your new province leaves ! Why would they wanna play such a game ? So 3 of my friends and 2 more provinces left our kingdom not too long after that, saying the game wasn't fun. Who could blame them ? Provinces with 3x their nw 3x their acres are taking 10-20% of their lands everyday ? Why is that even a thing that is possible ? If you had 6000 acres back then and hit a guy with 2000 acres, holy hell you wouldn't get 200 acres, you'd get 20 and kill some troops because it makes no sense at all.

This kept happening for the next ages, endlessly, some random hits every now and then from those top 5 kingdoms into our kingdom. And the players leave, bored and frustrated that nothing is ever done about these frustrating game interactions. Of the 7 players we brought to the game only 3 remain including myself and I'll be leaving soon as I noticed other posts talking about the same issues and nobody seems to care or want to do anything.

[Bart of Sparta]

The main problem isnt the top 5, its the 20-50 tier bullying the 51 or lower tier and ex competitive players like myself that play in troll ghetto's.

Yes, changes should be made, but it seems they will only be made when we abuse current mechanics to such an extent that the game is no longer playable for anyone.

Changes arent simple though, and the main reason for that is the amount of noncompeting trolls abusing the skewed mechanics just to annoy other KDs. I will remain such a troll until the right mechanics changes are made.

[Yadda9To5]

A reshuffle would help, then limit trading much, and finally change the game in such a way it's way more user friendly and accessible.

This new thing wouldn't be utopia anymore, needed changes are too drastic. So while it's a sad conclusion, the previous owners had the right idea, build a new utopia and bootstrap/kickstart it with players from the old utopia. Their execution was poorly done.

(While it's fun playing the nerd and making new toys (ehm, i mean tools) these only serve to complicate the game for new players, and are the opposite of increasing accessibility. Same with 3rd party tutorials, intentions are good, but the created set of tutorials will lack coherence (they will be made by different people) and only strengthen the first impression that this game is unpolished, and so difficult the game needs help from the community to understand it). Mind you i appreciate what the new owners do, they cater to the current playerbase. I just don't think it's the way to attract a new playerbase.

[Krynn]

limit Kingdom population to 12 - 15 players. this would not only help a monarch teach newer players but also put more kingdoms on the server.

[Bart of Sparta]

The major problem is that KDs that are out of range size-wise have too large an arsenal of destructive capabilities at their disposal. In the past this was HUGELY skewed toward big KDs, nowadays a lot of mechanics have been built in to help smaller KDs, to the extent that a small but committed group of players can basically destroy the age of any KD they wish (hypothetically speaking, if me and 4-5 others wanted to prevent Emeriti from crowning this age and the next, we could). On top of that the political landscape is hugely skewed to favor those that "know people" against those that do not. This coupled with the unbalanced mechanics makes the game cumbersome for many.

Right a much larger KD has the power to kill provinces in KDs they have a grudge with. By the same token, very small KDs have access to OOR razes and FG to end the age of any competing kingdom. Some suggestions could go toward making raze also RKNW dependent, making RKNW work two ways (the smaller KD hitting the bigger KD will also have reduced gains), increasing meter points until relations are reached, perhaps once 1 side has reached an X amount of meter points vs 0 on the other, you're allowed to offer a one-way CF (but then again, that is open to abuse).

Another option would be for the admins to actively "police" detrimental behavior, which means less strict rules but more power for individual admins to judge. This however goes against the grain of this game for many ages, and GL finding an truly objective person doing so that is also viewed as being objective. For instance, I personally feel that I would be an excellent fit to find and judge troll-play, yet no one in the game would support that due to my reputation.

[Korp]

- The game doesn't have ANY graphics, which make a LOT of people not want to try it and once they try it they can't do anything for a few days. It needs to be fun right off

Those people that are attracted to graphics arent people who are willing to commit to the time and effort that is Utopia. No game is fun right off.

- The game should have some tutorial, some way to learn how it works instead of just tossing you into a random kingdom that usually doesn't even want to help you

Tutorial/guide is in the making and one of the things on the new owners agenda.

IF YOU HIT IN A TOP 10 KINGDOM, THEY WILL BULLY YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD, RETALLING ONE HIT WITH 10 AND ASKING FOR 5000 ACRES IF YOU SEND A CEASE FIRE OR TRY EVEN A BIT TO DEFEND YOURSELVES.

Bit overdramatic right there, my kd is in top 10 and we havent made such claims for example. But yes, the learning curve is steep and hard.

The thing is, this a tough game to learn and the curve as mentioned is drastic. But dumbing down the game isnt the answer. Thats just punishing the people that put a lot of effort and time into the game, learning, playing, training achieveing etc.

[kendy]

Those people that are attracted to graphics arent people who are willing to commit to the time and effort that is Utopia. No game is fun right off, dumbing down the game isnt the answer. Thats just punishing the people that put a lot of effort and time into the game.

@ Korp^^ nailed it.
All 7 of you fiends should join our KD.
The random bottom feeding hurts moral here. We are tiny so everybody is bigger. 10% acres gain is way too big for a random. I speculate its to encourage war, 6% would be better, esp Avians who can't be ambushed, bump it to 10% in war.
Wishmasters, Gansters, a multitude of above average KD's attacked us daily. Crappy KD hit us too.

Utopia is a nice turn based math game. Made easier by the calculator on the war page.

Mates in the KD, It should be lowered to 20 with 17 being full so you need to invite the last 3 just like now. 20 is plenty then only 4 ppl could play in Emeretti instead of the 5 in it now. [JK] Envy? Make it so, number one!

Our King rage quit 3 weeks back after being treated shabby in the forum from 2 close war losses. 7 more quit or defected in 2 days. After that we have not recovered. A few vocal asshats would not shut up being mean about the losses, nobody jumped in to be Monarch, we went w/o one for 10 days. We did not need one as we only had 12 mates playing for awhile. Most of them have defected also. The vocal asshats left too and we immediately had peace. So few ppl know how to be King.

What is up with FARMS? Why do ppl start a prov and never come back? I don't understand this gameplay. We have killed a few but we have kept a few to steal their gold.

I do not like the new tag at the end when I copy / paste its so annoying and skrews the mechanics so paste no longer works. Read more at... licks gonads
We post our attacks in the forum for important reasons. I can see how much OP you sent [vise/versa] Return times, everybody can see return times. Anons we post ANON if attack is such. This no longer works due to the silly tag. Is that some silly reference for Munk to use?

postscript: The game is dyeing?

@Strat, no these provs are started then immediately abandoned. Only soldiers for OP/DP, no thvs, their NW never rises above 40K, 8200 dp so easy to kill, 100% BE or more. Easy to spot in all KD that have them. We have 3 atm.

[StratOcastle]

I'm participating.

Farms might be players who don't understand what to do. They may also be non-English speaking.

Oftentimes we see farms as some multi-based strat, but some might just be a genuinely curious observer.

[VaisselleSale]

I'm not even asking to dumb the game down or anything I'm just asking for a way for NEW players to be able to grasp the basics like how to attack, how to build, how to control population, etc. I'm asking for anti-bully mechanics. It is a deep game and it's a great facet of Utopia. It's just very hard for those new players to get into the game and understand everything and feel like they make choices when you're telling them everything they need to do for a full freakin week or even more when the age's not fresh.

I feel like the best way to bring new players is to have people that already play bring people in. Let's be serious the game's not attractive and telling people to wait two months for the new age to start ain't either.

[Avenger]

The people that want 'graphics' can **** right off, excuse the french.
I expect better ingame learning and communication tools.

[Realest]

the moment anything or anyone is born, it catches an incurable and terminal disease known as death

[Avenger]

Death is STD.

[rouge_3016]

The main problem isnt the top 5, its the 20-50 tier bullying the 51 or lower tier and ex competitive players like myself that play in troll ghetto's.

Yes, changes should be made, but it seems they will only be made when we abuse current mechanics to such an extent that the game is no longer playable for anyone.

Changes arent simple though, and the main reason for that is the amount of noncompeting trolls abusing the skewed mechanics just to annoy other KDs. I will remain such a troll until the right mechanics changes are made.

The problem is talking about problem, the game will be better if you and you spam friends delete

[rouge_3016]

- The game should have experienced, positive players with a different status, that are responsible of new players and looking at abusive behaviors.

100% true and I agree

main problem you have is that trolls and total retros are assigned with new accounts people make, also trolls seems to modernate this forum, that has to change if you do not wish to play with yourself anymore

[Palem]

Am I the troll? Or is it bishop?