First of all - the content of the game should NOT be throttled by how tempting it is to bot. No. Deal with the bots through dealing with bots, not by lobotomizing activities. You NEED to start putting more effort and resources into efficient bot control that is actually bot control, not eliminating incentive for everybody.
Otherwise, lots of feedback.
IMPORTANTLY; Do not force everyone to skull. This kills variety. It is pathetic enough that 85% of the players between levels 45-90 rely on ONLY the granite maul. If you remove unskulled builds, this number will rise up to 98%. Rather, set a minimum risked wealth requirement to obtain rewards, or to be considered a desirable target. This wealth can and should be more if you're unskulled. If the game guarantees, that should you get matched with an unskulled player, they will risk at least twice as much as they would need to should they be skulled, this would not be a problem.
TL;DR: Don't force skulling. Increase incentive to attack unskulled players instead.
Next up, there needs to be incentive to play bounty hunter. It can't be a zero sum game, otherwise there would be no reason to play it. The rewards can be lower, should you force the players to risk more to begin with. But it needs to be worthwhile, to bring more risk, and to fight players for it. You could turn it into a hotspot that eliminates the age old problem of simply not risking anything, as most 45-90 accounts do.
The new blighted rewards: No to all of it. They're artificial. Don't kill the market for supplies. Maybe add more of them from other sources. The sacks, absolutely not, using magic should be penalized with fewer inventory slots. The Rune Pouch works because it's a single item, an investment working for all runes, everywhere.
Moving any physical pieces of activities into the wilderness, absolutely not, those things were always a scar on the face of the most iconic area of the game. Keep clan wars where it is, leave the craters out of it.
01-Apr-2020 07:25:04
