Please use this thread to discuss the in-game recruiting feature, which is just now gone live. You can read a blog post (which includes screenshots of it) right here.
If you spot any issues please post them in the bugs forum, thanks.
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Please use this thread to discuss the in-game recruiting feature, which is just now gone live. You can read a blog post (which includes screenshots of it) right here.
If you spot any issues please post them in the bugs forum, thanks.
Very nice! One small thing that could perhaps be improved is the "experience" thing. Right now, if you've created a new account (because you've been away for a few ages and can't remember your old username or e-mail), you can't even apply to any kingdom that requires experience, even though you could have loads of experience. As the "game knowledge" and "activity" requirements already depend on the applicant's honesty, "experience" might as well be treated the same way.
I like it. Agree with Susie D. re:blocking recruits on experience that ties to the length an account. Also, I think the kingdom ranking should change based on what the kingdom goal is. Growth should be based on nw/land rank, warring = warring rank and honor = honor rank.
This is a great new feature that I think will help a lot to get more new players lined up with decent monarchs, and increase the amount of 25 prov kds. As soon as im out of current war i'll do a campaign and see what types of people I end up with.
A couple suggestions: I'm not totally sure with the current setup how well a new player can actually tell how good a KD they are thinking of being recruited into is. The nw ranking is decent insofar as if their 10/10 chances are they are decent, but war can knock people all around, especially if they're in a long one. In part, this isn't too big of a deal. Hopefully anyone who is actually willing to setup a campaign is atleast interested in playing enough that they can be an ok monarch. But some metrics for the players to see besides nw might be nice. For example, maybe something that counts the amount of ages that the KD has had at least 10(could be a different number) people transfer over from one age to the next. Or if the KD has had atleast 15 people transfer, maybe have their ww record from previous age.
Another thing I think could be nice for the monarch side(but also the player side) is an option to force options on people. So if they accept a certain kd that said "Boss is recruiting! Looking for UD/Warrior or Orc/Cleric" then the monarch should be able to have it where when they select race/pers those are the options. If the recruitee doesn't want that then they can go to a different one, and then the recruiter can be sure that the newb doesn't mess up and need to restart after the 8th faery has come in(sorry palem!).
Playing a long time doesn't mean people know what they're doing (Vines) and if you let people rate themselves, they might have a different opinion of their experience than the recruiting kingdom would.
How does this work? Do you declare your own level of experience or is it based on when you created your account?
Experience is based on account age (its part of our "lets make accounts matter" strategy) - activity and knowledge aren't measured so you rely on players to be honest.
Why is activity not measured? I remember a couple of dozen ages ago there used to be a statistic for login time and the number of logins. Why was that removed?
You cant measure a new players activity, as they have 0. Since they could potentially be very active we left it up to them to decide.
Merchant. Dwarf. Does that mean if I accept I get that or do they get to remake? I think if this is going to work you need it so they can join, then pick race, name etc and also change during protection? Oe, you need to be able to speak to them so they know what to pick etc. Also possibly add a field whereby they can add an email address and vice versa?
Nice addition btw :)
Or I think you should be able to list what you want ie orc warrior, elf mystic and upon applying select one of the province combo your kingdom has set out
Anothr Idea, when they apply a forum gets made so you can talk to them in it. YOu need some way to ask the player questions so that they know what to pick etc. That's my only gripe OR. Raise characters from 150 to 500 so people can be more specific in there write up?
Is there a way to see my own stats ?
For some reason, why / how do I not meet some kingdoms goals? How does the game determine "expert"???
After a couple of trial, apparently my own kdmate can message me for an invite again. I do not think this option should be there. Also, the diamond symbol next to the recruit tab does not go away after rejecting or accepting all application.
It would be much better to allow the new invitee to be able to change in protection as the monarch and his fellow kdmate can talk with them while they are still in protection. As stated by Topsy, it would ruin the recruitment system if players start to apply for a kd without planning to play nicely with their strat. If they message that they will play heavy attacker orc, for example, and switch to faery mystic, then it would ruin the balance of the kd looking for recruits. The features need some kind of communication so that their more to judge than 120 characters message.
I don't like that I can't play with it since we're full...=\
I think that as people are putting WAR WIN : 2 perhaps upon creating a recruitment template it adds that stat from your kingdom page to A) save space in description box and B) stop kingdoms lying. Perhaps "war" = war wins. "Honor = honor rank "growth" = Nw rank
I still find recruiting on forums better :)
Because,
You can write down allot more what sort of player(s) you are looking.
You can give allot more information about your kd.
And for a recruit he can't really see how good a kingdom really is.
There are still more problems why it is still best to just use the forum to get players but,
this option helps ghetto's-semi warring kd's good.
But I think the better kd's will still relay more on the uto forum and than do an interview on irc etc.
So overall it is nice but could use some improvements
Devs; way to waste your 'time' when there are some things that needs to get fixed.Finding players via forums works alright.Was totally unnecessary =p
Luckily they didnt make this as premium feature as usual ^^
Look, i'll pretend that was you trying to be constructive but, and i'm being nice here, you haven't a clue what you are talking about.Quote:
Originally Posted by mbab
The system is unusable imo. There needs to be a way to CONTACT these guys... there should be a little PM option nice and easy, or a little mini-forum or something. SOMETHING.
Recruiting is absolutely the most delicate process in Utopia, and we can't communicate with the guys trying to join? Yeah right.
That being said, all it needs is that function, and it's the best new feature added to Utopia EVER imo.
I second Topsy's and American Badass' comments on first page about options. Either let me specify exactly what we're looking for, or let me select a range of options so he is locked out of picking dwarf/war hero or something ridiculous.
For a war wins or honor kd to be ranked by nw alone is pretty silly :)
Might be nice to have the option to EDIT your current campaign, rather than having to end it and restart to change your 120 character pitch. Btw, only 120 characters, and I cant even review what I wrote.... this system just lacks communication ability top to bottom.
Sounds fancy, doesn't have all the features you want it to have if you'll be recruiting this way and in the end it all falls and stands with a player being honest..
As for the incidental case this system might be useful, it just still lacks if you're wanting to run a serious KD.
Somewhat of a let down, was expecting more of this grand announcement. Guess it's amazing it's not brought as a premium feature though :P
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazl
I don't think this feature is targeted at "serious" kingdoms. They already had no trouble at all recruiting new players. For newer kingdoms, trying to crawl their way up from total ghetto-land, this feature could be exactly what they have needed for a long time.
This is a very seriously bad idea. Right now there is a group of kds with 25 players and these kds dont really have much trouble recruiting, and there is a group of kds with 20 players who are playing along happily enjoying the game against other kds with 20 and if they lose a player the game reloads them promptly with a fresh greenie. If you put an in your face notice that players see every time they login that basically says 'hey dude your kingdom sucks, why dont you join one of these other kingdoms...' I would expect that quite a few will give that a try. This will be a smashing success and will result in lots of kingdoms with 21 or 22 players. It will also result in a lot of kingdoms with 18 or 19 players. The game started this age with only 7 kingdoms per island so very clearly there is a shortage of players and it will not be long before the kingdoms with 18 simply dont get new recruits because there arent any. They wont want to play with that level of disadvantage so they will disband and half will join other kingdoms and half will say screw it and go play something else. Now you are down to 6 kingdoms on that island and headed rapidly to 5 or 4. Is that really where you want to be?
Disagree with the above. Now new players have a chance to be matched up with kds willing to take them rather than being bullied or killed oop. That here is a big reason people leave. Also, gets the kd involved with new players with communication. Many times I've gone into a kd and nobody even notices me for a week or two. Not exactly social there.
@Bishop I think there should be a tag if a KD in particular is a 'New Players Welcome, will teach' etc. type of KD. That might make a NEW player more inclined to go to a KD that is interested in having him/her. Also a form of communication would be pretty sharp too, but that could be a mess considering forums and actual game are separate accounts (sort of).
Anyway, I think it looks great thus far, last step would be add an external link for KDs recruiting to send to old pals ;)
If i was looking for a kd i'd love to be able to see the kd page of the kd recruiting. That way i could judge for myself if i like them beyond the blurb/requirements.
I agree with dingy/badass and topsy you need some sort of contact between monarch's and those applying. I think that having a quck back and forth discussion would be very valuable to kds. And a way to rechoose race/perso would be very good particularly for recruiting but I guess the work around is delete and wait 24 hrs?
I agree with a lot of the suggestions above
- as a recruiter I would like to know more than the one sentence 'I would like to join your kd' before sending this guy an invitation.
The recruiter needs a means to know more about the applicant. I just end up putting my MSN address on the recruitment campaign thingy.
This is a very very bad idea. As Molly said, players will be continually reminded there are better kds they could be in. Players will be kd hopping like crazy. Don't like the way the last war went? Hop a kd. Don't like the last monarch message? Hop a kd. Don't like the way the monarch looked at you? Hop a kd. Goodbye ghetto kds. If anything, this new feature needs to be a premium paid player feature to prevent rampant abuse.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poggo
I don't think that will happen. Before we had this system, the better players, who landed in a ghetto, where already getting recruited by better kingdoms, but the ghetto's had no realistic way of recruiting themselves. This system gives ghetto's a way to recruit in a couple more active players, to make their kingdom better as a whole and, in doing that, a place where better players are more likely to want to stay.
Do you want to play with players who want to jump ship after one bad war? If people are hopping, good riddance. Will give you a chance to bring in a more stable player.Quote:
Originally Posted by Poggo
I think he'd rather prevent wasting an invite on an unreliable player. (Or does this system work without using up invites?)Quote:
Originally Posted by Palem
To Summarize on all my points how I'd feel this could be improved
For Monarchs / Kingdoms inviting :
Add Fields so that the following info can be entered (All can be left empty) :
- Contact email
- IRC channel
*****- Required to buy own invite > Yes / No
- Age Preferred > From: __ To : ___
Kingdom Statistics :
- War wins / Losses (Automatic, can not be changed by monarch to stop lying)
Looking For
(Think maximum of 2)
- Race 1 :_____________ Personality 1: _______________ Role : __________(15 characters)
- Race 2 :_____________ Personality 2: _______________ Role : __________(15 characters)
FOR PERSON LOOKING
- Contact Email
- Age
- Race chosen (Only 1/2 monarch has asked for can be selected)
- Time Played
- Activity
- Past Kingdoms
*****- Willing to pay for own invite > Yes / No
- 2 Uniques a day when at war > Yes / No
- Description - (300 characters max)
When An invite gets sent, the applicant should get a chance to "Preview" the kingdom before hitting join. If he/she declines, king gets Invite back. Should province delete BEFORE protection ends, invite gets returned to kingdom.
***** With this option, maybe make it so that a player can BUY an invite and have it attached to there account. If "YES" is selected then the king just has to hit accept and they are in right away and the kingdom saves its invites. This would make recruiting certain players more "stable" as then if people buy there own credits and leave, it really is up to them.
Nice Bishop, I like it. It might be improved slightly in the future if needed but let's test it a bit first.
I'm still glad that you are all putting effort in it to improve it again. So keep up the good work.
On a final note, I agree on Petrified about the activity thing.
Early days you could see your logins per day etc. Still says something about the activity and it's just a nice stat to have. Can't we get it back?
@ Landro:
It does use an invite if you have them.
Many good points made above, though I haven't read them all. I agree this is a good feature that needs some work. Though many have made points for or against it, I feel in the long run it's the ghettos that this feature will benefit, by helping kingdoms consolidate into 25-province groups. Unfortunately for the top, this means randoming will be even harder and as long as exploration remains impossible, it will make dicing even more important - and thus, make the game more boring unless something is done to fix the growth mechanics.
From my point of view, it's useless since I can't wait until a province is empty to recruit, and since you can't recruit when you have 25 players already that basically means I cannot recruit. If I could recruit, I'd probably run into other problems like wanting to do a full interview with applicants before accepting them, but I'm not exactly clear how that works. Having a longer-running recruitment campaign that could function even when your kingdom was full, would be useful - like an in-game waiting list. This could be a premium feature.
Also, perhaps I'm missing this, but the ability to set preferences as a recruitee would be useful. In my case "not looking", but in other cases - to have it alert you when certain criteria are met. "79 kingdoms are recruiting (79 want players like you) "...seems a bit overwhelming. And how does the game know that they're looking for players like me, btw?
I don't think that growth mechanics are what are broken. I think its the size of the player base and number of kingdoms.
There are just not enough kingdoms.
Off topic, but you're wrong. For top kingdoms, the only way to grow is by paradise. You cannot random because exploration is impossible so there are no big targets. Growth by war is occasionally possible but rarely before late age can it match the 3k acres and 50-100 bpa you get daily from pumpadising. Postwar recovery is very slow because there are no explorers. None of this has anything to do with the size of the player base.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pillz
One might argue that with more trades, more ghettos will get 25 players and move into the top early. This might benefit warring since those kingdoms can be farmed enough to match paradising. But it's not likely.