It’s been well known for some time that the new player experience is bad. Like, really bad. It’s so bad to the point where many new players try out the game, play for a few minutes, then stop playing the game because of how unfun it is for them. Usually it’s because of the fact that you have to pay for character slots and vault chests, but that’s not what I am going to talk about today. I think the main problem why many new players turn down the game (besides the p2p aspect of it) is how unnecessarily grindy it is.
I don’t mind grinding, in fact I think grinding to get a character that you’re proud of is an essential part of an MMO; but the fact that you can lose all those hours of progress you’ve made on a character, and not get anything in return for dying (besides fame), can be VERY upsetting to new players who spent so much time getting their first character to 6/8. It’s probably very upsetting for many veteran players as well.
So, what happens when a new player realizes that they lost all those hours of progress? Well, they will most likely rage-quit, or if they really have a strong will, they can try grinding for many more hours to get back where they were beforehand.
Now, I’m not going to suggest to remove permadeath, or anything stupid like that. I still think permadeath is an essential part of the game and is what makes it special compared to other MMOs. However, I want to make ROTMG a less grindy and less tedious game.
My idea to do so is to make it so that players can retain some of the stat potions that they drank on the character that they died with, and have it transfer to their next character.
However, it won’t be that cut and dry. The amount of stat potions that gets transferred to the next character will be dependent on the fame their previous character has amassed.
For example, if the dead character achieved 500 fame, then their next character would retain 10% of the stat potions that their previous, dead character has drank.
If the dead character achieved 1000 fame, then their next character would retain 20% of the stat potions that their previous, dead character has drank.
If the dead character achieved 1500 fame, then their next character would retain 30% of the stat potions that their previous, dead character has drank.
You get the idea. This would continue until a cap of 2500 fame, where their next character would retain 50% of the stat potions that their previous, dead character has drank.
I believe that this is a good idea because it rewards players for the time that they spend on their character, the reward being that they don’t have to grind as much on their next character.
Of course, they would still lose all the items they had on that character, but that’s not something I believe new players quit the game for. They quit because of the amount of boring, tedious grinding for stat potions that you have to do every time you die.
New players will still have to grind to make their dream character, but some of that progress won’t go to waste when they die.
Anyways, that’s my idea for improving the new player experience, or just the ROTMG experience in general.
Let me know if you guys think this is a good idea or if this is terrible and that I have no idea what I am talking about.