Originally Posted by
Tasim
Hello everyone, many of you know me and many of you do not. For those that do know me, you know I've been around since the beginning of IOS Era in 2010. It's been seven long years since then, and we've had numerous changes since launch. Despite this however, I think it's safe to say we all know that Era is in a bit of a tough spot right now, whether it be the drama thats been unfolding on the forums as of late or the mass resignation of some of our oldest staff.
PLEASE READ BEFORE GOING FORWARD: As a fair warning this post will be long, so if you do not intend to read the whole thing I suggest you stop here. I would also like to say for the all staff and moderators who do read this, please realize this is not a bashing on the management or anyone else, but is instead constructive criticism. With all of that out of the way lets get into the topic at hand.
One of the biggest complaints that players have had recently is the fact that our voices have not been heard or taken into consideration, this includes myself. While it's fine to manage a game as you see fit, it's important to note that this game is community driven. What truly makes Era and Graal Online so special in the first place is the fact there is really no other online game like it. The way the community acts, and the diversity this game has in terms of who plays it is immense. This game truly is a melting pot of different cultures, races, and ethnicities. Despite this fact however, we've been mostly kept in the dark about everything. The staff and the community should be working together to make this game meet its maximum potential, yet it isn't happening. Compared to older players and staff such as Andrew(snk), Reno, or Meph the new staff team isn't as engaging as they used to be. From what I can understand and have been told, staff are actually encouraged not to engage too much with the players, and this in and of itself is one of the biggest issues I see. The role of PRs, SPRs, or even PRAs are not to just answer our questions, if it was that straightforward the role would be named Question Relations. But it isn't named that, it's titled Player Relations because you are supposed to act as the bridge between us and other staff. You are supposed to relate to the players and engage the community, not hide and only show up when it's time to punish people. You started as a player in this community, don't forget your roots.
Another huge issue is the lack of catering taken towards the competitive community. Part of what gives a game --especially online ones-- replay value is its competitive or engaging activities. This game really doesn't have much of that as it gets stale, and most of the activities that are available have been executed poorly. A perfect example of this is the basing system as well as the gang system, something that has always had a problem but has taken years to finally address. I really do think the work Bitzsam has done so far is great in terms of trying to bring back that competitive spirit, but quite honestly it really isn't enough. For that reason I have come up with some suggestions for you to consider.
1.) Overhaul base levels completely: One of the biggest problems Era has with its bases is the fact they are far too narrow. Some examples include Mafia, Tachi, and BBZ. There are chokepoints in all of these bases that are basically made almost impossible to get through when attacking because of the fact people use their unbalanced weapons and explosives to wall the entire pathway, creating little to no opportunity for any skill based play. A way to fix this is simply overhauling the designs of the bases by making them much larger and spacious. There should be several rooms that lead to the flag room rather than just one, as it then breaks the unhealthy gameplay strategy of standing and spamming straight down the hallway. Some bases that already do this well to a degree are Box Factory, Guerre, and Neo. If more bases were like this, there would not be a need to ban guns such as the Chemical Gun from bases, as it would no longer be feasible to bunker down and spam.
2.) Diversify base objectives: Neo offers the most unique and skill based wars out of all the bases without a doubt. Flag rushing is quite boring and really only needs sheer numbers to get taken down. That being said there should be more bases that are redesigned (at least one or two) that have the same functionality and similar set ups to Neo zone. This allows for more skill based play and reignites the competitiveness that Era originally had.
3.) Create more activities for players: While GraalOnline Zone is a fairly dead game now, some of the ideas and public events they had are among the best I've ever seen for a Graal game. Era should recognize some of these strong points and attempt to implement them in the future. An example of this is the public event known as showdown. This event is a free for all battle royale that warped players to a somewhat decently sized battleground. Each player would only have one life, and there were one use health-kits spread sparingly about the map. The event would continue until there are two players left, who would then be warped to an area about the size of a spar arena. The winner of the event would receive Gralats, and after completed the event would occur again after a cool down period. This event is extremely engaging as well as fun, and would be an amazing addition if it was implemented on Era.
This is only some of the things I've come up with, but as for now this is how the post will remain. As time goes on I may edit and update it, so with that in mind remember that thoughts and ideas are appreciated. Thanks for reading!
Era's Situation, Where We Stand And How We Can Fix It
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