POLL: Open V2 Registration Temporarily?

[Mr Pwnage]

          Well I don't remember our exact numerical peak in player base, but I remember a time when the average was 60 people online. How did the game even get that popular to begin with? I am sure there was some advertising involved to get the word out? Upon reopening registrations would you be opposed to some advertising to draw in new people so that we could restore the game to the old population potentially? Like James mentioned in his post, a lot of the bosses (ie the sand golem) are very hard to take down alone or even with a few people and are designed to only realistically be taken down by a large crowd of people...which is honestly the issue right now. That and the fact that also like James said, if you were to get something rare you have nobody to show it off to.
          Obviously if we were to successfully draw in a large number of new players there would be newly added community maintenance as I am sure it would attract some toxic players as every online gaming community does at some point, but I feel that's what would be ultimately necessary if v2 was going to be actually enjoyable again. I mean it sounds like you've said you're doing it as a thanks for donors and also doing it for the heck of it...but with that said does that mean that you would be opposed drawing in a bunch of new players?

[crozier]

@pwnage- I think it being the "best" mmorpg on yoyogames was one of the reasons for its success. It didn't have too much to compete with (except perhaps that Luxor online game which came several years after, slime online, Jakethesnake and lingus's online game, and a few other weaker titles). I don't know how much technical advertising Meiun did, but I'm gonna make a guess and say a handful of the players came from yoyogames or the game maker community. I seriously doubt SO2 would be able to gather a lot of new players, due to it being an old game, it's no longer endourced by yoyogames, word of mouth only goes so far, 60 players online (let alone 5 or even the extreme 1 player online) is a turnoff to modern mmorpg players, and a big advertising campeign would distract Meuiun from v3 (it would be a lot of work and I don't know if Meiun has the "connections"). I seriously doubt there would be many new players playing So3 anytime soon. I saw a phenomenon with another mmorpg, too. It went years without any new content, people lost interest (including myself), there suddenly became only 10 or so main guilds instead of 100, and this game was much more advanced than SO. It lowered in its player count, and there was no stopping it, because it was just an old game. It was still a good game, with good community, but that's just the way it is. Get what I'm saying?

[Meiun]

It's actually a bit funny. I really didn't do any advertising aside from posting it on the "GMC" (game maker community), which drew the first wave of players. But beyond that, the majority of its popularity was primarily from word of mouth and other people posting about places that I had little to no knowledge of. It eventually reached a point where the growth of users seemed pretty much self sustainable, and I actually removed the posting for it from the GMC. I also remember a few occosasion where people offered to advertise it on some websites for me and I told them not to, as the player base was already growing faster than we could keep up with. I don't remember the exact stats for its peak, but I definitely remember a stretch of at least a few months in which it was rare to log on and see less than 60-70 people, and at peak hours it was easily up to or over 100. I think the most we ever had online at once was somewhere in the range of 250-300 people (one of the Chaos tournaments), but I may need to double check that for the exact number. I know I have some screenshots from that tournament somewhere.

Anyways, I'd sort of rather not spend any time advertising the open registration in any serious manner. If we get some new players, that'd be great, but I wouldn't want things to get excessive (not that I expect they would). You guys are all more than welcome to spread the word to your friends and such, but you really don't need to go too far out of your way.

I definitely look forward to a day when we can see some strong player counts with V3 though :)

[TANK]

was wondering if its not too much work and people are into it you might re introduce the old pvp system with this so the new noobs can bat each other around and make factions and such, it might spice things up for a while.

[Lucifer]

was wondering if its not too much work and people are into it you might re introduce the old pvp system with this so the new noobs can bat each other around and make factions and such, it might spice things up for a while.

I made a plea for this a good while back when the donor server was slightly more active, but as I look back at my post I think Meiun was right to ignore it. I thoroughly enjoyed the old PvP system, I hope it returns in some manner for SOv3 like enforced PvP in some of the independent zones Meiun mentioned in his sneak peak, but for the donor server it would just prompt an unnecessary amount of afk killing, spawnkilling, and killing during bosses like it did before - thus requiring an increased level of moderation, more of Meiun's time and energy... etc. 

But if Meiun did want to spend a little time on SOv2 and spice things up a bit, I've always wondered if the donor server would be better off if it abandoned its grinding aspects. The grind used to be secondary, something you just so happened to be doing while chatting with your friends, or if it was primary there was a solid goal in mind; survive longer during spawn parties, find a rare item to show off to your buddies, defeat a rival in PvP, compete in an official tournament, etc. SOv2 never truly had any official "end game content", but for me and many others its PvP was the end game content, especially the official tournaments. I don't think I've ever had more of a rush than I did whilst fighting foG or DaemonClawz in those tournaments, or fighting igufed or Danimal back when we used to practice nearly every day. SOv2's PvP requires an immense amount of skill, and with its weapon & statistical variety the PvP alone could even be its own standalone game. I've always wished there were more fully-geared & skilled players so that we could properly test the the balance of PvP in this game, but too many have abandoned the concept once they realized how long that would take.

So what if we did away with SOv2 holding on to its MMO status and turned it into a fighting game by;

• Making every account max level or if that's inconvenient drastically increasing exp gain.
  
• Putting every item in the store or drastically increasing their drop rates.
  Meiun, I know you'll probably shoot this idea down because I remember your responses to similar ideas in which you've expressed a desire to keep the donor server's memory pure to how the official server was, but think on it. The only barrier to SOv2's PvP content is your level and your equipment, both of which require hours upon hours of grinding of grinding with 1-5 players online in the current state of the donor server. The amazing thing is that people still do that, I still see people online every day grinding out those last few items they never obtained - it is true that some people did and still do play SOv2 for its PvE content alone and would probably find themselves with nothing to do were they to suddenly actually have everything they've worked for years to achieve. I don't really think there's a middle ground here, with the way that the drop system works in SOv2 (something I've never quite agreed with, but understood to varying levels), the rarest weapons are the most effective in PvP. If we were to give everyone equal access to those weapons, there would be nothing to reach for in PvE.
  
  I think the idea is worth discussing at least. I know I'm going slightly off topic, but I feel like a discussion about SOv2's activity is getting at the root of why people like DNH have asked for the registration to be opened. We're never going to reopen registration permanently & regain SOv2's old community completely for the donor server, so what can we do to pass the time whilst we wait for SOv3?
  

[TANK]

 That sounds pretty cool, pvp has always been the main focus of this game to me also. Adding this along with the 99 auto level (you must still grind for the last lvl 100 sounds cool to me) and open registration would lead to a lot of fun for a long while I think.   Thing is a lot of people worked a long time for their items, we could still vote on it though and if it gets all yes's give it a go. ... I can  see 99 agi slasher teams flying at a group of 99 str IS'ers already. The only other problem I can think of is if people ever got bored of it stickonline v2 would have no replay value. (it already seems pretty empty though.)

[Titan]

Long deep thought provoking loving message here.

This is actually really interesting. The main reason I don't play anymore is because I'm not max level/don't have the right items to PvP. Its pretty boring to sit there alone and try and grind the last few. Its even more boring to repeatedly kill bosses alone hoping you'll get something decent.

Just my 2 cents.

[Hikarikuen]

I don't really care what happens to SO2 at this point. I suppose Luci's idea up there might have a decent outcome, although I think there might be some players who actually do enjoy grinding so it bears further discussion. I'd definitely prefer increased experience rates over insta-leveling.

[catmadman]

to go along with Lucifer's idea. there could just be a reset button for the stats so we can experiment with different stats for pvp or against the monster in SO2. or maybe not  :P

[DNH]

Higher EXP and Drop rate - YES
instand max level and All gear in Shop - Better not

im not maxxed on one of my 3 accounts, but i also dont want to...
higher drop rate would be awesome, same to exp increase like 300% more or so
I think i'd play even more active then

[jackel1994]

Higher EXP and Drop rate - YES
instand max level and All gear in Shop - Better not

im not maxxed on one of my 3 accounts, but i also dont want to...
higher drop rate would be awesome, same to exp increase like 300% more or so
I think i'd play even more active then

Then everyone hits max level and has all the items within a week. Thus nobody will be playing, i mean less than now even... At this point in time, there are still some people that are on and grinding for items. Take that away and you will be bored and left with a dry washed up game.

[Chuck_Norris]

Higher EXP and Drop rate - YES instand max level and All gear in Shop - Better not im not maxxed on one of my 3 accounts, but i also dont want to... higher drop rate would be awesome, same to exp increase like 300% more or so I think i'd play even more active then Then everyone hits max level and has all the items within a week. Thus nobody will be playing, i mean less than now even... At this point in time, there are still some people that are on and grinding for items. Take that away and you will be bored and left with a dry washed up game.

i wouldnt do it too. But the spawn rate of boss monster sucks. I am online since 9 am just  2 ds the whole day it doesnt make fun im just alone and no ds.

[DNH]

So why not doing it right now?
SO could get some live back and i dont see any reason why to wait with that since noe one would cry.

GG

[11clock]

I miss the good old days when people were actually playing the game.

What makes Stick Online the game it is is the community. I want to see the community regrow. Therefore, I support this decision.

[aIck]

Can't wait to play SO once again... That is... if this' really gonna happen.