I'm thinking of a new mode... PSO "Seasons"?

Sodaboy

Sodaboy

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So, I'm thinking of ways to get people to play more Hardcore and also just thinking of a new mode for PSO in general. What do you guys think about having PSO seasons?

Basically, every so often (I'm thinking every month), we start a new PSO season. Players create new Hardcore characters during this season to place for different things on a seasonal leaderboard.and try to unlock achievements on their character.

At the end of the season, the leaders in each of the leaderboards can receive a reward that is rewarded to their NORMAL ACCOUNT. Rewards would change every month.

Players who participate in season play will play on a seasonal account which is wiped of all characters and items at the beginning of every season. Items wiped would include things in the common bank as well.

This puts everyone on equal footing as far as trying to get on the boards and promotes playing the Hardcore mode, which kills your character should you fall.

What do you all think of this idea?
 
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I don't think it should be too frequent, maybe a month cool down in between seasons. Have that season last for 2 weeks or however long you decide and once its over let people get back into normal mode for a while. Otherwise it might divide the community with "oh sorry, can't play right now, working on my HC season character these next couple of months".
 
That makes sense. Gotta have time to play your normal character with your new shiny rewards and all too, right?

Thanks for the input!
 
This sounds neat actually! The only thing stopping me from playing HC right now is that I'm still driven to get better levels/gear/skills on my normal characters. This would be a cool incentive thing!
 
Sounds like an extended Challenge Mode -> clear maps with "seperate" character, get weapons for normal character. Any ideas so far on what these leaderboard goals could be? As already stated, I think this would divide the small playerbase even further, so having some kind of "cool down" might be good. New modes (for now) involve having multiple accounts and playerbase divide, because players in different modes can't play together (only interact in lobby). If I were you I would keep gathering ideas for now and only implement a new account based mode if the playerbase is at a constant 100+ online, because I think normal, HC and SB are enough for now.

If it is based on hardcore, how about having a seasonal time frame and leaderboards only for HC characters which are created during that time, instead of a new account? Maybe try making HC more interesting in general, like having HC only events - which is basicly what you're getting at, minus the "new mode" thing.

EDIT: I just reread your post and I guess this won't be a new account thing anyway. My bad.
 
I like this idea, but I would love it if there were some not completely useless consolation prizes as well for people who tried, and maybe reached a certain point but weren't the best. And make that point to be reached pretty forgiving. Reason being that as much as I love this game and would love to try this mode (after I level a bit since I just started on this server), I simply do not have enough time to dedicate to something like this if I had no chance of winning next to someone who has loads of time.

Prize idea for consolation: Add Slot, 1 PD, stuff like that.
Mid way prizes: Somewhat useful weapons/armor/units
Highest Tier: Much more useful things but not the best. I think maybe the best stuff should still be hunted.

Also the cooldown period between seasons idea mentioned in a previous post is a must have IMO.
 
To me it feels like all these modes, HBR and the occasional events are all competing with each other, trying to get players on their side. There's just so many options. Should I play normal or HC? Should I collect HBR points or spam Fiasco for presents? Should I participate in the HC season? Maybe it needs more structure ... idk ... like HBR for normal mode only and maybe not every month? Then seasonal stuff for HC only?

@HaxBagoosh Yeah maybe earning some kind of points you can spend in a special shop to buy stuff. Or for another roulette minigame like in gallon's shop.

makinaz said:
Can seasonal characters play and trade with normal HC characters? Can HC accounts be rewarded?
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This can be a problem if it's on the same account, since you can just get your lvl 200 mag from bank while others have to start fresh.
 
I don't know how well this would actually work in practice. I don't think it'd actually work at all.

If somebody wants to play hardcore mode, they will. We're a fairly small group and I don't know how many individual people will try to bother keeping up with it after the first run of it.

We have more than enough ways to play this old game now. Asking us to do the same grind every other month is kind of ludicrous, no matter how we're being rewarded. It feels like you're grasping at straws.
 
I think it would be even better if season were not all just start from level 1. Just like how in CM you get higher mag stats, levels, gear as you progress, i think this should be the same.

For example, Falz Season

Characters start at level 130 , with a good amount of gear and level 200 mag.

just an idea xd
 
i really like the idea of the hc event ladder, really what pushes people to even play hc
how often its up will affect its participation a lot
think 4 times a year (1 month long) would keep people hungry to do it, but not burn them out too much or affect other event participation
if the server population increases enough then maybe have them more often

but i would think it need to be unaffected by other non-hc server boosts (milestones etc)
have it so player gets to choose the GC that gets the item (norm or hc)
what metrics would be rewarded? highest level, most kills, etc
keep the prizes in the realm of balanced, maybe have the people rewarded with increased rare drop rate for a time on their chosen account
maybe reuse those TA event prize list, non-rares of all colors with hit = to 66hit max tier (vulcan etc) non-rares

also any prize list should be 1st 2nd 3rd everyone else gets much lesser rewards
gotta keep the pressure to be the best imo
 
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Agastya said:
It feels like you're grasping at straws.
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I think that's entirely your problem as I'm not really grasping at anything.

I'm just trying to think of other ways to play PSO and make PSO fun.

Yeah, it might not be your cup of tea to have seasons, but it doesn't mean other people wouldn't enjoy a mode like that.

Also, no one really forces any of the new modes or anything upon the players. You're free to play the normal mode or whatever mode you like to do, even if the season was up.

Yeah, I know someone will cry foul because some people will be more inclined to play seasons to get on the board for a reward, but I think with clever thinking of what kind of boards to have may help, so it doesn't always favor the people who play 24/7.
 
I dunno if anyone else has played Path of Exile but this sort of makes me think of their league system, temporary hardcore servers where people can compete on a leaderboard and attempt challenges. While the best of the best fight over the leaderboards, players with less time or skill can still attempt challenges and get some rewards that way; maybe something similar could be done? Prizes for reaching a certain level during the season's short span, finding a particular list of rare items, killing all bosses on a certain difficulty, are all examples of the sort of challenges they have. At the end of the season rewards are given out both on leaderboard placement and # of challenges completed.

I would likely participate if it wasn't leaderboard-only for rewards, I do not have that kind of time to play anymore.
 
Instead of competing for leaderboard spots, how about a system similar to Diablo 3? Blizzard hands out rewards based on your seasonal characters' progression; you could do a similar system, rewarding players for reaching specific level milestones during seasons, or completing certain tasks like # of times a player defeats a specific enemy, or some other stat that can be tracked and turned into a seasonal theme.
 
Cookie said:
There's just so many options.
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I guess, yeah, maybe that can be a problem for some. I've always liked options, though.

But, maybe you're right, maybe I'm doing too much. I just enjoy adding stuff and giving options. Maybe I should dial it down, but then I feel things start to feel stagnant.

makinaz said:
Can seasonal characters play and trade with normal HC characters? Can HC accounts be rewarded?
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First question, no, this would defeat the purpose of seasons if you could just pass gear from other HC characters.

Second question, yes.
sasx said:
I think it would be even better if season were not all just start from level 1. Just like how in CM you get higher mag stats, levels, gear as you progress, i think this should be the same.
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This is a good idea, I like it. This gave me another idea for something else...

Ducks said:
i really like the idea of the hc event ladder, really what pushes people to even play hc
how often its up will affect its participation a lot
think 4 times a year (1 month long) would keep people hungry to do it, but not burn them out too much or affect other event participation
if the server population increases enough then maybe have them more often

but i would think it need to be unaffected by other non-hc server boosts (milestones etc)
have it so player gets to choose the GC that gets the item (norm or hc)
what metrics would be rewarded? highest level, most kills, etc
Click to expand...

I agree with most things you said. As far as metrics, this has to have careful consideration.
 
Oh, Bliz and XII replied while I was typing.

Your ideas are good, yes, maybe leaderboard system is wrong. Maybe it'd be better to use an achievement system for this.
 
XII said:
Instead of competing for leaderboard spots, how about a system similar to Diablo 3? Blizzard hands out rewards based on your seasonal characters' progression; you could do a similar system, rewarding players for reaching specific level milestones during seasons, or completing certain tasks like # of times a player defeats a specific enemy, or some other stat that can be tracked and turned into a seasonal theme.
Click to expand...

good ideas
but i think it should be both this and leaderboard at least in a couple of areas
first person to 200 should get something special etc

should the hc board be ult based? having it say kill w/e in ep1 is one thing but ep2/4 dont change names from diff
 
If you go on for an achievement system for it instead of leaderboards then I'll be far less leery about it.

I will admit that "grasping at straws" was probably not the best word choice for what I was trying to convey, however. I'm just really iffy about all the modes being added since it's really easy to lose track of stuff with all the options, but if you want to go for it then there's much better input here from other users than what I've given which is just a stock "probably won't work" post.
 
Seasons will only work if you can get people to play together. Even if we all start over if everyone still wants to try to solo everything it'll never work. You'll see people just trying to force their lvl's up really quickly, make mag feeding rooms to get high lvl mags early. Instead relying on each in fights and having to run some things multiple times, instead of doing the impossible early. So far from Ephinea all I've seen people do is run a limited number of of quest and try to get to ultimate as quickly as possible (A.K.A. running TTF and RT). This will go one of 2 ways- A.) Nothing changes and people will just continue to play this game as they were and forcing themselves to play season just to get the item at the end or B.) Everyone will become cowardly and fear everything. So in seasons mode people will just sit there and do pretty much nothing.

If you want to run a seasons mode we would need input from people other than the usual suspects because these are the people you will be relying on to make it a success. As well as extremely good incentives to keep people calm and patient. If everyone is getting a good item at the end of they may not be angry about having to run the forest about 3 times at the beginning. Personally I think that you should make a list and everyone gets to choose 1 item from that list at the end of seasons. Last you might even have to get rid of a few of the most played quest. Some people might hate it but hell for this to work people would have to play this differently. Getting people to play differently is key here. Other than that you might be wasting your time.
 
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