OHOL has become so boring & it makes me sad

JonySky · 2019-10-09 16:23:02

jasonrohrer wrote:

Yeah, I know that like 50% of the players would love to be Real Eve every time and start thriving towns. Everyone wants to be the matriarch of vibrant family tree.
But you can clearly see why that is impossible and not sustainable, right?
If everyone wants to be a root, who's going to be the leaves and branches?

The problem is that there are currently 60 people playing ...
50% of players (30 players) don't like rift, and many players stopped playing OHOL for this update ...

We can say that more than half of the OHOL player base disagrees with the rift.

New players are not arriving either ...

In big cities the game has always been boring (everything is created), but before we had the option of leaving the city or committing suicide to appear in another family (hopefully like Eve or an early camp)
Now this is nonexistent ... it has locked us in a small map with 5 families and their 5 big cities

and I don't know if you have noticed ... but there is still no trade, or collaboration between family members, there is not even a simulated family bond (there are no parents, adoption is something invented by the players, but there is no mechanics )

For weeks we have the same content setting up a rift that many people do not like for a base of 60 players that at any time can go up or down ...
tell me Jason ... if this player base varies ... will we spend weeks reconfiguring the rift for the new number of players?

I am seeing that players are being forced to play in very limited conditions and mechanics
the server or arch cleanings as it is called remind me a lot of the rust, but has forgotten that rust has 2 types of wipes (of constructions and recipes)

In Ohol there are no recipes, the wipe means cleaning everything you have achieved

this is frustrating ... this is why people are not interested in playing the end of the arc (same as rust)

and don't get me wrong ... I'm not demanding more content here, I'm telling you that maybe the rift is not the best solution to create a good game

Where do you want to go with all this?

Last edited by JonySky (2019-10-09 16:28:32)

Jk Howling · 2019-10-09 20:02:25

I quit playing after the first arc was introduced for this exact reason. The game is completely and utterly stale to me now. I was a frequent player of early game- setting up sheep pens, setting up the forge, making the first iron tools, planting the foundations of the farm.. these things were enjoyable to me, and made me feel like I was contributing to my family.

I vividly remember one time where I was the son of and eve, and set up the foundations of a town entirely on my own while the eve and her daughters [both new two the game] hung out in the forest just eating and trying to survive. I planted the foundations of a camp- the forge, the iron tools, the farm, the well- and my sisters and mother came to live there halfway through my life.

I even found a random young male from another eve, whose family hadn't made it. This was prior to the Xenophobia update. I brought him back to my camp and my family welcomed him with open arms. A niece even let him name one of her daughters, so as to preserve his family name.. that name carried down for 63 gens!

I showed up in the area several days later to find the place had boomed. It was a fully functioning city. It was easily recognizable by the well placements, as this was prior to the spring update and I had chosen a nice spot with like 6-8 ponds in vicinity. That town lasted a good week or two, gave birth to several outposts, and was my proudest achievement in the game.

And I'll be damned if this wasn't satisfying

What saddens me now is that, I'll likely never have that experience again. That son of eve life in which I help set the foundations of something awesome. The satisfaction of the town not only surviving, but thriving through multiple family lines. Watching it defy the odds and survive through the week, even longer.

And even moreso, the unexpectedness of where I'll end up. The situations I might be born to. A new eve just starting to find her way in the world. An established camp struggling to find food enough for their growing population. An early town whose well just ran dry. A mid-game town trying to get their first newcomen pump. A later-game town struggling to drill for oil.

Sure, I had my preferred playstyle, but I also had variety for when things got stale. "Every life is unique" used to be an important aspect of the game, it used to be something people cared about and enjoyed. Now it's been essentially forgotten, shoved to the side because "well u cant have both XD." We HAD both at one point, and instead of balancing that, it was completely thrown out the window for this ridiculous arc idea that's doing little but driving players off.

The_Llamacorn · 2019-10-10 12:49:32

Yeah, before the arc you would be able to play in a big town with lots of people in one play trough, and then the next life, right after, you could spawn in a small eve camp or even as an eve yourself. It was so diverse and you didn't get bored. But now you almost only get to spawn in big towns since it doesn't take long for small camps to become big so you don't get to choose where you wanna live. And I really don't understand why you made the map limited, I mean one of the biggest parts of this game was that the map was essentially limitless, and you could keep walking wherever you wanted for your whole life, and then you just removed all that and made the game more of an endless cycle of eves spawning at the same time and then becoming big town and dying out at the same time, whereas before it was like a continuous timeline of overlapping evecamps and big towns. The game kinda lost its charm of letting you do whatever you want, instead, its always just the same all the time. Probably one of the worst updates you've made if I'm being honest, I hope you reconsider the addition of the ark and limited map. By adding those you've essentially cut out what made the game fun and exciting in the first place.

Kinrany · 2019-10-10 18:02:03

I'm afraid that the game is now trying to engineer a stage play from start to end, instead of creating an interesting situation and just letting it develop in unexpected ways.

Saaphia · 2019-10-10 18:10:08

The_Llamacorn wrote:

Yeah, before the arc you would be able to play in a big town with lots of people in one play trough, and then the next life, right after, you could spawn in a small eve camp or even as an eve yourself. It was so diverse and you didn't get bored. But now you almost only get to spawn in big towns since it doesn't take long for small camps to become big so you don't get to choose where you wanna live.

Exactly, it was diverse. And everyone was able to find their place. You could be creative and build houses and gardens and all that, if you wanted to. And you could also play for survival, challenged by nature.
I personally love playing campaigns in games, I love succeeding in them or trying over and over until I do. Sadly, there is no challenge anymore most often when I login (because I am from Europe and it seems the arc is always well developed when I come online).

jasonrohrer · 2019-10-10 18:34:07

There will be challenge again. I'm working on it.

Spoonwood · 2019-10-12 11:39:55

jasonrohrer wrote:

I'm still working on this (the end of the arc IS boring, I know), but a few thoughts:
1. If you don't like the town you're born into, and you're a woman, just leave and start a new town. There's plenty of empty space around, right? That is essentially the "Eve game."

No, because you know where a town lies. The true Eve experience includes having to discover everything or make everything that you can.

jasonrohrer wrote:

2. Beyond (1), what your'e asking for (lots of Eve camps or young towns 24-7) is not long-term sustainable, unless all towns die out in short order.

No. People could have the option to get reborn into the same spot. If they did, then towns wouldn't have to die out in short order.

jasonrohrer wrote:

That is in fact what used to happen, for the most part, which is why the game was more exciting before. In order to "make room" for a viable Eve camp in the player population, an established town has to die out.

No, an established TOWN did NOT have to die out previously. At one point it was an entire week before a town died out.

It looks like Fug has already called you out on these points. Oh look... so did Twisted! There are only so many babies to go around, and if babies are going to an Eve camp, that means they're not going to an established town.

jasonrohrer wrote:

Twisted, if a town lasted for weeks, where was it?

San-cal, Casino Town, Tarr's trash, dozens of towns on low pop servers such as North Town and South Town and Stew Town and Frost's Town and Spoon's Woods, and Bell Town was another. Those aren't myths Jason. Those are town names that people either played in, saw pictures of, or saw other people play.

jasonrohrer wrote:

Unless I'm missing something, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to have it both ways. Permanence and Novelty fight each other. If it's permanent, you're going to encounter the same thing over and over. If it's novel, well, then it's new, and it must not be permanent.

You are. You're missing the possibility of an Eve spiral with players having the ability to respawn in the same spot if they live to sixty, with buildings and farms and other structures that don't reset for a while after not getting seen.

jasonrohrer wrote:

My guess is that the long-term towns happened during (A) and were the result of pure luck, because the Eve spiral would start over with zero radius on the "rim" of the old spiral each week, after the update.

Not for that reason only, no. Respawning in the same spot enabled some towns to keep existing. Also, San-Cal as I understand things, happened on server2 before the bigserver update. That meant a constantly flowing in player population, but not all that big so the Eve spiral didn't get too big over time. Also, remember how you changed a so-called coordinate leak that Tarr told you about? I have a feeling some people use to use that to find old towns. But really, people having the ability to get reborn into the same spot if they live to 60 would just be simpler.

jasonrohrer wrote:

Yeah, I know that like 50% of the players would love to be Real Eve every time and start thriving towns. Everyone wants to be the matriarch of vibrant family tree.
But you can clearly see why that is impossible and not sustainable, right?

No, I CANNOT see why. I simply can't see why it is impossible for you to implement an Eve spiral with towns that say don't reset for a week, along with a choice screen which enables people to play as an Eve, and also to get reborn into the same spot if they lived to 60.

jasonrohrer wrote:

If everyone wants to be a root, who's going to be the leaves and branches?

Plenty of people would rather be the child of someone than play as Eve. I will reference Pein who hasn't cared so much for actually being Eve. New players exist. I also ended up often ended up playing in other people's towns than my own in low population server play.

Warumono · 2019-10-12 23:11:25

Yeah... this was my favorite game when it first came out, even way back before it was on Steam. I didn't get it right away 'cause broke but I'm pretty sure I've obsessively watched every youtube video about it I can get my hands on. I still watch, but I no longer play. I mainly just watch hoping that someday it'll be a game I want to play again.

I loooooooved that it really felt as random as real life. You never know where/who you are going to be. The big map was amazing. It made stumbling upon old stuff really special. Some people like the big cities, some people like early play, and some people like Eve (or rotate through all). It was random enough that I'd be born in a massive city and another life be bare bones. That was what was exciting. It's like 'sometimes you're born rich'. Now it's just like... bleh. If you can't play all day every day you're going to miss out on the slimmest chances you get to not be the same old thing every time. I'm also a person that doesn't like to be an Eve, but I still tried every time when I was one because that was the dice roll.

I like the option of people getting reborn to the same place if they live to 60. And if they don't want to be there again, that's why they have /die.

Last edited by Warumono (2019-10-12 23:17:32)

eajorstad · 2019-10-13 00:01:16

I think the thing that makes it feel stale the most is that each town you're born into is roughly at the same spot in the overall timeline. Which, obvs. I think is kind of the point right now, since you're using the arc/rift to make a controlled experiment to smooth out edges.

But one of the things that I remember finding the most fun pre-arc was when you would have a string of early game lives (first few generations) and then you would get born into one of the really big cities. It was like "OMG. I can actually make things now and someone will be there to watch my kid!! I can get basic clothes and not have to also worry if I have enough food around me!!!" It was almost like a reward for living a few difficult lives.

Or, conversely, if you had lived a few consecutive later game lives (all in large towns) getting to pop out as an eve and actually **choose** your own location! Or, getting born as a 2nd/3rd gen where you get to really work on planning a town out.

I miss THAT diversity. The overlapping family timelines, where no one family was exactly the same. Right now, it's kind of like "Oh. different family name, but it might as well be the same thing because not much has changed. They have the same technology I had in my last life."

/shrug

Stormyzabeast · 2019-10-21 03:44:57

fug wrote:

jasonrohrer wrote:
(2) means that everything you build is lost in about a day. I'm guessing that most people don't like that too much. People are currently complaining that everything is lost in 5 days at the end of the arc. "EVERYTHING WE BUILD IS POINTLESS!" But, you know, before the arc, everything you built was usually lost in less than 24 hours.
Unless I'm missing something, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to have it both ways. Permanence and Novelty fight each other. If it's permanent, you're going to encounter the same thing over and over. If it's novel, well, then it's new, and it must not be permanent.

(Note that if you exercise (1) and are successful at starting a new town, you will suck babies away from an existing town and cause it to die out...)
(I also realize that (1) is not a pure Eve game because even the wild areas of the rift are somewhat settled and explored.)
The only time things were being constantly lost in 24 hours was when you introduced the eight hour cull time instead of the weekly cull. This is what made things feel constantly meaningless as we had towns that could last upwards of a month of play with the old culling system. Sure. you still lost smaller towns at a quicker rate but you could have your lives actually cycle between early game (since there was almost always an early own or two) followed by a mid game level town, and then sometimes either someone would accidentally find a mega town or would spawn there on server reset.
When you lowered the timing we stopped having any sort of San Cals, Goose towns, or Casino towns what so ever. Did people play in these exact places 24/7? No, and that's why they're tolerable long term vs what we have right now. You might be in Goose Town for a day before trolls or bad rng killed it off then in a few days or upwards to a week someone would find it again and restart the rebuilding process. You can have meaningful building and resting without the balance being all funky. We traded history and interesting things for a system that left a bunch of random ass walls and flooring on the map.
The problem isn't "Can we have late and early game coexist in game at the same time" but more so how do we allow early game to exist without spreading the families so thin. The biggest issue with early game is the amount of Eves that pop up (hence why a closed eve window can be good) which spreads the players too thin.
Overall, I'm not sure why you keep trying to push we have more permanence now when classically places lasted longer. We traded sporadically living in the same place over a long period of time for constantly living in the same place for a much shorter length of time.

A.m.e.n!

One Hour One Life Forums

#26 2019-10-09 16:23:02

Re: OHOL has become so boring & it makes me sad

#27 2019-10-09 20:02:25

Re: OHOL has become so boring & it makes me sad

#28 2019-10-10 12:49:32

Re: OHOL has become so boring & it makes me sad

#29 2019-10-10 18:02:03

Re: OHOL has become so boring & it makes me sad

#30 2019-10-10 18:10:08

Re: OHOL has become so boring & it makes me sad

#31 2019-10-10 18:34:07

Re: OHOL has become so boring & it makes me sad

#32 2019-10-12 11:39:55

Re: OHOL has become so boring & it makes me sad

#33 2019-10-12 23:11:25

Re: OHOL has become so boring & it makes me sad

#34 2019-10-13 00:01:16

Re: OHOL has become so boring & it makes me sad

#35 2019-10-21 03:44:57

Re: OHOL has become so boring & it makes me sad

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