Some concerns about Ephinea

[Ceri0n]

Hello everyone.

As much as I love Ephinea and wouldn't trade it for any other server, I worry about a few things I noticed.

First one is the declining population. I know there are a lot of people who work but that same goes for Ultima which has a higher population for a month or so. That wasn't the case when I started on this server but shit just happens. Not worrying about it too much.

(The lack of) events. I know the server had an anniversary event but I feel that is not enough to keep the 'casuals' active. Most events are attractive for high level players but what about starters? They cannot do HBR since PW can be too punishing for them. Enemies getting killed without them even being able to hit them because of hell needles/j-cutters/slicers is not very rewarding as well. I am pretty hardcore I feel so I don't mind that much but there must be something we could do in terms of a noobie event. Maybe double exp when a certain amount of people join this server? Any idea is welcome tbh.

PoD has been nerfed till death. Not much drops from shambs (or Kondy for that matter) anymore and I think that should change. I am not saying it should be spammed to death like before the change but can it be made at least a little more relevant with perhaps 1 über or so (Lame/HS/Limiter/Lore or anything worth mentioning)? PoD is still a quest I would enjoy once in a while, it is just not rewarding enough anymore. I know Mother Garb+ drops on Blue and Pinkal. BOVN drops from Oran and Skyly but it is not a Lame or HS and those items are more niche than a staple item.

Last but not least the way we speak to each other on the forums and sometimes in game as well. If you are a skilled veteran (which I know will be 50/60% of this server) be kind to them who are not as skilled as you are. Coach them when necessary but don't burn them down. The way it comes across can be quite harsh and sometimes looks like it is the declining schthack community of a few years ago. The charm of this server when i joined was because players were so friendly with one another, even if you were not so skilled. That charm is gone and should be brought back. An ingame build intensive to help noobies for veterans should be great but the whole attitude of the server is something we must consider as well.

 

[ScoobyDew]

I'm gonna state my pure opinion on this. I dunno how others feel and will not speak for them.

This game is 16, almost 17 years old. Anyone who plays this game is playing it for nostalgia or for pure love of the game. I know there are hardcore people who run shit like 6 times a day to find a weapon. Then there are people who just play cause it's a relaxing game. I'm the latter. Nothing against those who run shit all day but to me what kind of end game does PSO have? None. Sure you can find more weapons and mags etc. Etc. But why? For what? There are no raids like in WoW. It's simply for collection.

The double xp is nice for a bit but if it lingers too long I find myself lvl 80 before even leaving forest 1. Did i do anything to get to this lvl? No. I killed a couple of monsters and I'm lvl 80. What should of normally taken me several runs through 3 modes. I know many find grinding boring but it's part of the game. You know why i came to this server? Because xp is vanilla. You know why i quit WoW? Many reasons but the biggest was the xp was increased.

The vets helping the noobs is whatever i guess. Everyone wants to give me stuff and run me through stuff. I refuse for the most part. Wtf is the fun of the game if i have OP gear and someone is just one shotting things for me? No. I dont want a secret gear and a heavens punisher. I want to find those items. There's nothing better than seeing a red box and going "holy shit!what is it?" And finding out its a sweet wep or gear.

I'm on my phone so sorry for typos. Listen. I never hit lvl 200 in all my 16 years of PSO so i don't know as much as others. I play this game SUPER casual. Im lvl 66 after 1 year on ephinea. I love the community here. It reminds me of those really cool guilds you found in WoW where you met some great friends who were like family. That's the real reason i stay. Youre gonna find ass hats and chill people in every aspect of life. Just weed out the fools and find the cool people. Thats all i can think of atm.

 

[Matt]

When it comes to the population and events, the server is running as intended.

There seems to be this huge focus on having the biggest population and the bestest of events, but here at Ephinea we just wish to offer a place to play PSOBB, and this means not interfering with the game too much. This includes events; they're supposed to be a change to the standard play format every so often, not a tool to increase the population and "force" people to play. We already have 4 events throughout the year, and I personally feel this is more than enough, and we'd also really like to avoid event burnout as well.

Since we're also working with the base game and not additional items as well, constant events are also a mistake as the lifeline of the game becomes limited, as people only play this game as long as there is something to do (i.e. get to 200, find a certain item, etc.).

On the population specifically, we're not trying to be the most popular server, it's just a place to play PSO. Whether 30 or 300 people are playing, as long as the people playing are enjoying themselves on PSO, our goal has been met.

When it comes to PoD, I personally have no opinion on it.

I have to agree the community to some extent is somewhat questionable, as well, but for the most part it's alright.

 

[Baka!]

I'm gonna state my pure opinion on this. I dunno how others feel and will not speak for them.

This game is 16, almost 17 years old. Anyone who plays this game is playing it for nostalgia or for pure love of the game. I know there are hardcore people who run shit like 6 times a day to find a weapon. Then there are people who just play cause it's a relaxing game. I'm the latter. Nothing against those who run shit all day but to me what kind of end game does PSO have? None. Sure you can find more weapons and mags etc. Etc. But why? For what? There are no raids like in WoW. It's simply for collection.

The double xp is nice for a bit but if it lingers too long I find myself lvl 80 before even leaving forest 1. Did i do anything to get to this lvl? No. I killed a couple of monsters and I'm lvl 80. What should of normally taken me several runs through 3 modes. I know many find grinding boring but it's part of the game. You know why i came to this server? Because xp is vanilla. You know why i quit WoW? Many reasons but the biggest was the xp was increased.

The vets helping the noobs is whatever i guess. Everyone wants to give me stuff and run me through stuff. I refuse for the most part. Wtf is the fun of the game if i have OP gear and someone is just one shotting things for me? No. I dont want a secret gear and a heavens punisher. I want to find those items. There's nothing better than seeing a red box and going "holy shit!what is it?" And finding out its a sweet wep or gear.

I'm on my phone so sorry for typos. Listen. I never hit lvl 200 in all my 16 years of PSO so i don't know as much as others. I play this game SUPER casual. Im lvl 66 after 1 year on ephinea. I love the community here. It reminds me of those really cool guilds you found in WoW where you met some great friends who were like family. That's the real reason i stay. Youre gonna find ass hats and chill people in every aspect of life. Just weed out the fools and find the cool people. Thats all i can think of atm.

I agree with a lot of this, but I feel like you missed what was said about vets helping new/unskilled players.
I re-read the original post and nowhere does it say power-leveling or being given rares.

I've definitely had a lot of experience with PSO (I started playing about a month after it first released on the DC). After Version 2 came out, I made it to lvl 100, went into Ultimate Forest, and got my ass handed to me. Shortly after that, I stopped playing. I played a little on GC, but not nearly as much as I had on DC. And still to this day, I go back and play a little on my old DC. What I'm trying to get at here is that I have a pretty good understanding of the game overall, but practically no endgame experience.

Here on Ephinea, I'm lvl 136 and starting to do more endgame. But I've run into a lot of instances where I join a group, start playing, and get told that I'm playing wrong. It's usually not in a rude way or anything, but it's also not that helpful. It's usually along the lines of "stop casting all that other stuff, just cast gifoie" or "you should really have _____ Gear or you're doing it wrong." That's all fine and good, but it would help to know why. You could argue that it's my responsibility to know how to play my class, and it's up to me to do the research. And in fact I now have, and have a better understanding of my FOnewm. But at the same time, a lot of players (especially casuals) may be turned off by being told they are doing it wrong and not want to put in the time and effort to look it all up on their own. Which in the end would just drive them away.

All I'm saying is, this is a really small community. We're all here to have fun and play the amazing game that is PSO. So be kind to others. They may not know as much as you. Take a minute to explain things to them. You may just make them like the game even more and spread the word about how great of a place Ephinea is

Sorry so long.....

 

[conenubi701]

Fiasco is gone (all the other homebrew quests are shit imo and the only other quests worth playing were HBR last month), school started for the younger crowd, and new games (FH3 for me) are out, so that's mainly the reason for the drop in player count. You'll see an increase in population when Christmas rolls around.

I'm gonna state my pure opinion on this. I dunno how others feel and will not speak for them.

This game is 16, almost 17 years old. Anyone who plays this game is playing it for nostalgia or for pure love of the game. I know there are hardcore people who run shit like 6 times a day to find a weapon. Then there are people who just play cause it's a relaxing game. I'm the latter. Nothing against those who run shit all day but to me what kind of end game does PSO have? None. Sure you can find more weapons and mags etc. Etc. But why? For what? There are no raids like in WoW. It's simply for collection.

I got bored of Normal Mode back in 2002 and Battle Mode/Challenge Mode made me stick around on PSO after I got tired of bonking Boomas on the head. PSO PVP has been fun for me since the 56K days on Dreamcast in v2 PSO. Only reason I stuck around on this server when it still had less than 100 accounts was because we have the Win count that shows up in the Lobby when you hit Tab.

 

[Ade]

This server has amazing events and they're done with appropriate frequency.

The Ep. 4 situation before nerfing PoD was awful because people only played PoD, which is a joyless, terribly designed quest.

Anytime I get frustrated with a n00b it's because I've been answering the same questions for the last 14 years. Yes, I realize this might be the first time for THEM, but that doesn't make it any less laborious. There's a One Person Mode and an abundance of guides online for a reason. For example, if you walk into Seabed or Crater with under 721 max HP and get one-shotted by Dorph / Delbiter every time, I'm going to get annoyed with you. If this makes me a bad guy, then I guess I'm a bad guy.

 

[ToasterMage]

declining population? 42 people right now playing a 15 year old game is quite amazing in itself.
lack of events? awesome, summer lasted too long.
PoD? didn't die soon enough.
helping new people? not my fault they get mad when told what to do.

 

[Ceri0n]

On the population specifically, we're not trying to be the most popular server, it's just a place to play PSO. Whether 30 or 300 people are playing, as long as the people playing are enjoying themselves on PSO, our goal has been met.

I can understand, this is not competition with other servers. I compared it to another server which I perhaps should not have done. However, when it is hard finding a decent game online then the experience itself deteriorates as well and it will become less enjoyable. You can question whether it is completely met or not.

I agree with a lot of this, but I feel like you missed what was said about vets helping new/unskilled players.
I re-read the original post and nowhere does it say power-leveling or being given rares.

Exactly!

Here on Ephinea, I'm lvl 136 and starting to do more endgame. But I've run into a lot of instances where I join a group, start playing, and get told that I'm playing wrong. It's usually not in a rude way or anything, but it's also not that helpful. It's usually along the lines of "stop casting all that other stuff, just cast gifoie" or "you should really have _____ Gear or you're doing it wrong." That's all fine and good, but it would help to know why. You could argue that it's my responsibility to know how to play my class, and it's up to me to do the research. And in fact I now have, and have a better understanding of my FOnewm. But at the same time, a lot of players (especially casuals) may be turned off by being told they are doing it wrong and not want to put in the time and effort to look it all up on their own. Which in the end would just drive them away.

Exactly my point. I can help you since I have 2 fo's on this server, one of which is a lvl 185 fonewm and a lvl 164 fomar. I can't
emphasize it more than you already have though.

This server has amazing events and they're done with appropriate frequency.

Anytime I get frustrated with a n00b it's because I've been answering the same questions for the last 14 years. Yes, I realize this might be the first time for THEM, but that doesn't make it any less laborious. There's a One Person Mode and an abundance of guides online for a reason. For example, if you walk into Seabed or Crater with under 721 max HP and get one-shotted by Dorph / Delbiter every time, I'm going to get annoyed with you. If this makes me a bad guy, then I guess I'm a bad guy.

You're not a bad guy and I understand your frustration. I can be somewhat rash as well to be honest but it is not going to help you in game when you show it that way. You will be ruining someone elses experience as well and that should not be your goal. Helping is the only remedy. Yes, there are online guides but helping real time is the best help you can get.

 

[Varista]

I mean people seem to like my pictures I post up here, so I imagine that people will like me in game too, but I could be wrong. lol.

 

[fogboundturtle]

I agree with a lot of this, but I feel like you missed what was said about vets helping new/unskilled players.
I re-read the original post and nowhere does it say power-leveling or being given rares.

I've definitely had a lot of experience with PSO (I started playing about a month after it first released on the DC). After Version 2 came out, I made it to lvl 100, went into Ultimate Forest, and got my ass handed to me. Shortly after that, I stopped playing. I played a little on GC, but not nearly as much as I had on DC. And still to this day, I go back and play a little on my old DC. What I'm trying to get at here is that I have a pretty good understanding of the game overall, but practically no endgame experience.

Here on Ephinea, I'm lvl 136 and starting to do more endgame. But I've run into a lot of instances where I join a group, start playing, and get told that I'm playing wrong. It's usually not in a rude way or anything, but it's also not that helpful. It's usually along the lines of "stop casting all that other stuff, just cast gifoie" or "you should really have _____ Gear or you're doing it wrong." That's all fine and good, but it would help to know why. You could argue that it's my responsibility to know how to play my class, and it's up to me to do the research. And in fact I now have, and have a better understanding of my FOnewm. But at the same time, a lot of players (especially casuals) may be turned off by being told they are doing it wrong and not want to put in the time and effort to look it all up on their own. Which in the end would just drive them away.

All I'm saying is, this is a really small community. We're all here to have fun and play the amazing game that is PSO. So be kind to others. They may not know as much as you. Take a minute to explain things to them. You may just make them like the game even more and spread the word about how great of a place Ephinea is

Sorry so long.....

Sounds like you have played with Lil B....

Some people are just being very knowledgeable about the game and they think the way they play is the only way to play the game. They can be a little harsh at time but they are not bad people. Just different personality. I just told them, I do the best I can. If it's not good enough, I'll just find another game.

 

[ScoobyDew]

Since when did PSO become such a serious game? Like i said i never reached endgame but i thought PSO was just about killing shit. I mean most of us dont play HC mode. You have nothing to lose when you die so why care so much about how others do things?

If someone tells you "you're not doing this the right way!" Just tell em to fuck off. I can understand if someone tells you how you should feed you mag because that takes time. As for the other stuff? I mean. In the end you're just killing enemies. Whether you do it your customized way or some legit build. Does it matter?

 

[Zen]

While this thread isn't locked (not speaking to Ceri0n):

I've seen more and more suggestions about "balance changes to make the game better/more fair". When people are suggesting so, they are just trying to make the game a tad easier for their characters. I can totally understand your point of view and I do see where SEGA failed but I don't think your suggestions would fix anything. If you start changing stats here and there, it ends up too far from the original experience as you have to satisfy the whole community.

I started to play here because I wasn't happy with the balances the other servers offered. They actually made the game much more boring than it already is. Needless to say that they were wrong and flawed. It's a good thing that the admins are keeping the vanilla aspect of the game because nothing will beat this experience. You should be thankful to have such a place, Ephinea's changes are already making the game a lot better.

That's my point of view and you are free to disagree, but I'm pretty sure it's shared by a lot of players here. There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep Ephinea close to a vanilla PSOBB. You have other servers if you wish to play an altered game.

 

[Harborer of Hope]

While this thread isn't locked (not speaking to Ceri0n):

I've seen more and more suggestions about "balance changes to make the game better/more fair". When people are suggesting so, they are just trying to make the game a tad easier for their characters. I can totally understand your point of view and I do see where SEGA failed but I don't think your suggestions would fix anything. If you start changing stats here and there, it ends up too far from the original experience as you have to satisfy the whole community.

I started to play here because I wasn't happy with the balances the other servers offered. They actually made the game much more boring than it already is. Needless to say that they were wrong and flawed. It's a good thing that the admins are keeping the vanilla aspect of the game because nothing will beat this experience. You should be thankful to have such a place, Ephinea's changes are already making the game a lot better.

That's my point of view and you are free to disagree, but I'm pretty sure it's shared by a lot of players here. There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep Ephinea close to a vanilla PSOBB. You have other servers if you wish to play an altered game.

ZENNYYYY!!! FINALLY!!! Someone gets it! Soda-samas tries so hard enough to keep us Happy...Why alter and Alter and ALTER his vision of a Vanilla server with smart perks? (ok, ok, so it's Vanilla 'with sprinkles' dammit =3) Mew for one is with you on not getting greedy!
And even With the seasonal population drop...NEW people are Still popping up! <3 EVERY year for several years, our server populations dip then surge towards the holidays. No biggies <3

 

[anime]

The charm of this server when i joined was because players were so friendly with one another, even if you were not so skilled. That charm is gone and should be brought back.

Wow I can't emphasize how much I agree with this.
When I started here in August I knew absolutely nothing about the game...
The only reason I know all the dank strats is cause of Matt, NDW, Jessica, Roo, and Wigga.
People who played with and put up with me being literal trash RAmarl. I think the hate is mainly targeting FOs, mainly because a FO playing "casually" is pretty detrimental to the party.

Bare minimum is just using SDJZ, if you're spamming lots of techs that aren't gifoie, it can cause a lot of DMC and be frustrating for other players (depending on the area). Even resta can be annoying for veteran players trying to trigger their mags, or using Dark Flow.

Overall this game isn't very intuitive to new players and a lot of veterans are tired of explaining that over and over and over and over. That's the reason Colette made a dank guide! I think teaching others was much easier in the earlier days because everyone started fresh and expectations were low. It would be nice if some older players would go out of their way to teach some new doodz 8)

 

[Kyu]

helping new people? not my fault they get mad when told what to do.

I lol'd


Anyway, PSO is what it is; an ancient game where people get their nostalgic feels and have fun the way they see fit.

 

[Aizen]

I would agree with Ephinea becoming less noob friendly, and friendly in general that charm that you're talking about. Not sure if that's just the people playing these days but I for one will make an effort to be more noob friendly. Thank you There does seem to be an influx of trolls these days on both forum and shoutbox. Not sure what to do about that. Also, summer event was so OP that it may have set us into a lull. I think we'll bounce back fine. If not, then we have xmas..
RE: POD- ITS DEAD BABY. Unfortunately not going to change and I've (regrettably) gotten used to that.

 

[W0AHD00D]

I have less than 3 months experience of being here, at Ephinea. Though my experience with PSOBB isn't as high as most of the community here, I have been around long enough to get a taste of what some of the other servers have to offer. (Eden&Scht) Compared to what the vanilla version of DC and GC had to offer.

Great in different ways, but they all have their set-backs. As should be expected. When you add multiple different features through-out the years, the game can seem to get messy, and unbalanced. Which also makes it confusing for some that simply have little to no experience to the game in online mode. With that in mind, Ehpinea doesn't stray far from the closest to vanilla experience that I've seen in a psobb server. I would consider it being comfortable and more likely to keep my interest, long-term.

There is little I have to say about the event counts/duration. As convenient as they are, I wouldn't mind if there were more or less. Either way the community favors, I'd be okay with. Though I do agree that it would cut long term play time down for members that get burned out, or just end up having everything. Events provide a lot of good things and all, but I'd value member time over items.

Last but not least the way we speak to each other on the forums and sometimes in game as well. If you are a skilled veteran (which I know will be 50/60% of this server) be kind to them who are not as skilled as you are. Coach them when necessary but don't burn them down. The way it comes across can be quite harsh and sometimes looks like it is the declining schthack community of a few years ago. The charm of this server when i joined was because players were so friendly with one another, even if you were not so skilled. That charm is gone and should be brought back. An ingame build intensive to help noobies for veterans should be great but the whole attitude of the server is something we must consider as well.

I appreciate what you're saying here. Coaching someone would be a lot more beneficial to everyone in the party, rather than being upset over their unaware habits. It does get old, but that's not a lasting impression I'd like to have for myself, personally. Others may not care how they react to mishaps on the other hand. Either/or, it's up to you how you take that-if some mlgpro is madbcuzbad. Needless to say, I do still see the charm you speak of. The community seems mature for the most part, and has a lot less toxic players than other gaming communities.

 

[jalirdharey]

 

[Harborer of Hope]

Wow I can't emphasize how much I agree with this.
When I started here in August I knew absolutely nothing about the game...
The only reason I know all the dank strats is cause of Matt, NDW, Jessica, Roo, and Wigga. Players who played with me and put up with me being literal trash RAmarl. I think the hate is mainly targeting FOs, mainly because a FO playing "casually" is pretty detrimental to the party.

Bare minimum is just using SDJZ but if you're spamming lots of techs that aren't gifoie, it can cause a lot of DMC and be frustrating for other players (depending on the area). Even resta can be annoying for veteran players trying to trigger their mags, or using Dark Flow.

Overall this game isn't very intuitive to new players and a lot of veterans are tired of explaining that over and over and over and over. That's the reason Colette made a dank guide! I think teaching others was much easier in the earlier days because everyone started fresh and expectations were low. It would be nice if some older players would go out of their way to teach some new doodz 8)

Mew for one NEVER gets 'tired' or 'bored' halping nooblets! *Hip bumps KIREEK off the screen* Elitists can make anyone feel inept and frustrated...they just better be ready for a SMACK on the nose if mew sees that $#it around her! And yes, if mew has the choice between healing a nearby lowbie cornered by sinows or allowing u to DF special....your a$$ is getting RESTA'd! XD!!
Like the Homepage says....."BEGINNER FRIENDLY!" <3

 

[Nikki]

Just play PSO and stop worrying so much lol, populations in this game decline and regrow all the time. People thought both PSU and PSO2 would be the death of BB but we're still here, and we've even had population resurgence since then a couple times. Just enjoy the free ride we're bein given and repay them by just playing, that's what its here for.