Make starbase unique, not another game with the MMO tag slapped on

[Tumbla]

This is a just a short thread of some suggestions i think would be really good to have in Starbase. So some issues i have seen with other games that go the Base building, crafting, Open PvP route type of sandbox is that eventually only the PvPers are left in the game and the PvE'rs or more casual players are bullied, griefed away and scared away from the game. Specially games who rely only on player ran interactions and player hostility to drive game play, cue... sandbox games with their player driven game play.

These are some things i think would be good to have in game

Dynamic events
Conquest
Some sort of PvE ( no...not just gathering, crafting and base building. Give me some mobs to fight that drop certain items that my ship needs in order to make it faster, or to build a warp gate.)

When i say dynamic events, i mean some sort of in game mechanics that spawn hostile environments that a player must clear out or change his game play in order to get past it. This way we dont just have an empty world where we are looking for players to gank.

1. Random abandoned space station with some supplies, that you would have to go in and clear out. You would have to fight against other players as well as some Mobs, (maybe, once cleared out these could become temporary faction hideouts/bases that other players could fight for. These bases would be easier to raid and take over than other faction "home-bases" . These could be more like outposts, or FOB's. Some sort of offline raiding protection would be needed, so players dont just wake up and their base is gone. Some sort of "war declaration" mechanic with a set siege time, for when the station could be taken over."
2. Random environmental hazards, from space debris, that could damage your ship. Imagine being in a huge battle and out of nowhere there is fast moving space junk flowing through the battlefield. Yeh, you would have to change ur tactics.

Conquest, would be a way for bigger factions to fight each other instead of always picking on the smaller groups. There could be certain places that have better resources than others, or closer proximity to moons, etc. Places that would incentive's people to fight over, and these places could be taken over and controlled by player factions.

1. After the land is claimed, there would need to be a sort of Conquest mechanic with offline raiding protection.
2. War mechanic within that conquest mechanic, that announces who declared on you which would activate the siege window which happens during the war.
3. Siege window would be chosen by you the person who got war declared, and would be their main defense time
4. Everything inside a certain radius of the base cannot be destroyed, unless it is the Siege window time where it can be taken over.

In my opinion a game needs both PvE and PvP to thrive, it must be a muttually inclusive community where both can live in the same world.

1. Some PvE events could be random Mobs protecting high tier resources, or like above random space stations with some sort of loot that is protected by Mobs.

I wrote this, in the hopes that Starbase is not just another generic sandbox game with the promise of "MMO", there has been to many half assed games like that already which take survival/sandbox style games with individual 40 man servers, stitch the servers together and just slap the MMO tag on them.

Dont let us down, FB make this game unique. Let me know what you think below, agree or disagree?

 

[CalenLoki]

1. I'm against investing too much in PvE. IMO it leads to way too much grind and repetition. Unlike PvP, which is always more unique and challenging due to player input.
2. If PvE gets included, it should be totally optional. Which means all the items from PvE should be available through PvP at least as easily. Crossout is good example how forcing players into boring grind make game worse.
3. I agree on events that throw big groups against each other and give reason to build up an use up power. But still I'd rather have them PvP.
4. IMO reward for such events shouldn't be resources. That only increase snowball effect and fake sense of progression. Games are much more interesting when as you get better (win an event) game throws bigger challenge at you (or at lest doesn't make it easier). So reward should be just something like unique cosmetics or leaderboards.

 

[Tumbla]

1. I'm against investing too much in PvE. IMO it leads to way too much grind and repetition. Unlike PvP, which is always more unique and challenging due to player input.
2. If PvE gets included, it should be totally optional. Which means all the items from PvE should be available through PvP at least as easily. Crossout is good example how forcing players into boring grind make game worse.
3. I agree on events that throw big groups against each other and give reason to build up an use up power. But still I'd rather have them PvP.
4. IMO reward for such events shouldn't be resources. That only increase snowball effect and fake sense of progression. Games are much more interesting when as you get better (win an event) game throws bigger challenge at you (or at lest doesn't make it easier). So reward should be just something like unique cosmetics or leaderboards.

I agree, game needs to be a PvP game at its core but that doesnt mean it doesnt need any PvE. I have played alot of PvP games, and it gets tiring with all the micromanaging that goes into keeping your bases secure or having to keep an eye out so you dont get ganked. Those type of PvP games also have very high burnout rates.

There needs to be something else to do in game other goals and objectives, else the game gets boring imo.

 

[Matrixmage]

A lot of the PvE and NPC stuff you're describing just leads to it being "another game with the MMO tag slapped on it". What makes Starbase unique is that it is at its core a sandbox of human interaction. I don't think they should add features that detract from that experience. Eve has proven that having a player-driven model does in fact work for an MMO, especially a space one.

 

[Tumbla]

A lot of the PvE and NPC stuff you're describing just leads to it being "another game with the MMO tag slapped on it". What makes Starbase unique is that it is at its core a sandbox of human interaction. I don't think they should add features that detract from that experience. Eve has proven that having a player-driven model does in fact work for an MMO, especially a space one.

By what i mean with an game with the MMO tag on it, are games like ark, atlas, rust. Games that just say they support lots of players but are pretty much modded servers that cant even handle 100 player fights all with community servers that split the playerbase. EVE is a good example of a game that has player driven experiences but lets not forget they have alot more mechanics than, a concept of just dropping a player off in a world make him mine some stuff, gather some stuff, craft some stuff, and build some stuff with the danger of being ganked. "games like rust, ark,atlas MMo tag slapped on"

 

[Matrixmage]

Games that just say they support lots of players but are pretty much modded servers that cant even handle 100 player fights all with community servers that split the playerbase.

Your argument almost seems inapplicable to Starbase though... Starbase is a single shared universe game, akin to Eve, not to any of the other games you mentioned. It's not possible to have a split player base across community servers, because community servers simply don't exist.

 

[Tumbla]

Your argument almost seems inapplicable to Starbase though... Starbase is a single shared universe game, akin to Eve, not to any of the other games you mentioned. It's not possible to have a split player base across community servers, because community servers simply don't exist.

Exactly why i was using it as a way to explain games that i think are games with the MMO tag on it, i didn't say starbase would be one of them. My topic was mostly game suggestions that i think would be cool to see in starbase. Starbase is not out yet, we have seen gameplay footage but in order to really tell what kind of game it is we need to play it.

 

[lykelyke]

I don't know that PvE is important to have *per say*, so much as SOMETHING to do that doesn't rely on open world PvP or harvesting minerals. That can be open world/instanced PvE, some kind of arena to fight in (and I could see starbase FPS mechanics being a reasonably compelling e-sport all on their own, so the idea of an arena with some manner of spectating built in sounds interesting), NPC missions beyond just harvest x and deliver y. A fighter pilot league, races, games. I do think that if there's going to be multiple hours travel time to involved people will want something to do to keep from getting bored doing that. I know I personally am asocial enough that I don't want to just chat with people for 3 hours while going from station x to battle y, and I'm probably not the only one. I also think that there should be ways of accessing the best materials in some kind of quantity without having to be in one of the strongest player factions. Not necessarily a lot, but enough to build the occasional ship so you don't feel trapped into working for specific groups. That's boring and leads to excessively small numbers of groups controlling everything even more easily. Which means try hard mode all the time for everyone, and again, that just gets boring.