Why the exploration aspect isn't working for many people

[TallBlondeDude]

NOTE: This is feedback, not a suggestion

I could write a whole paper on the benefits of intrinsic motivation and or positive/negative motivation, but the gist is that people prefer positive motivation to have fun and retain interest, which is (I'm hoping) the goal of Potterworld. This is the big issue, people don't want to "waste" their time on going in one direction for 10+ minutes, often encountering nothing special to make it even slightly worth it. It's a pretty well known fact the world is mostly empty and the only exploring that gets done in higher levels (post broom acquisition) is exploring the air above the treeline. And the alternative to wasting time flying above the treeline? Spending gold. Unsurprisingly, people are not deriving fun from a system with a lose lose options. I don't claim to know the solution to it (hence why this is feedback), but I do think its pretty clear there is a problem. I also want to compare this to games like runescape or other MMOs. When you do the grinding, it is often motivated by the idea of getting something, like a new gear or level, not avoiding something. Frankly the removal of quick teleportation to "Encourage Exploration" has absolutely not had that effect, unless like I previously stated, the air above the trees needs explored.

 

[daniloelnino]

Don't take this as an official answer, but I can tell you the reasoning behind the way things are set up right now. The creation of the open-world Wizarding Britain map was done to give us a base for future expansion. Think of it as a canvas for plots, towns, events, secrets, etc. You are correct that as of right now, the "in-between" of the builds on the world is a little sparse. However, it won't be sparse forever. Things will be added here and there, places will expand, secrets and locations will be implemented as we move forward. I understand that some people have different motivations in gameplay, but exploration has always been, and always will be a central focus of Potterworld. I think that the world will start to feel less and less empty over the next little while, and it would make more sense to revisit travel options when we get to a point where it makes sense. It wouldn't make sense to give players ways to skip traveling through areas now, for example, then take that method away in the future.

 

[Dylandiscworld]

It's working just fine for me

 

[TallBlondeDude]

Don't take this as an official answer, but I can tell you the reasoning behind the way things are set up right now. The creation of the open-world Wizarding Britain map was done to give us a base for future expansion. Think of it as a canvas for plots, towns, events, secrets, etc. You are correct that as of right now, the "in-between" of the builds on the world is a little sparse. However, it won't be sparse forever. Things will be added here and there, places will expand, secrets and locations will be implemented as we move forward. I understand that some people have different motivations in gameplay, but exploration has always been, and always will be a central focus of Potterworld. I think that the world will start to feel less and less empty over the next little while, and it would make more sense to revisit travel options when we get to a point where it makes sense. It wouldn't make sense to give players ways to skip traveling through areas now, for example, then take that method away in the future.

Yeah I knew that more things were being added in the future, but I am a bit concerned they wont addresses it correctly/enough - adding more content, but content people only would want to do if they set out to do it ex. a hidden boss/dungeon/questline. I fear that anything worth doing would become common knowlage, like if there was a secret boss that dropped good gear everyone would know about it - hence no exploration. Referring to your claim that PW has always been about exploring, I haven't felt a pull to explore since the monthly hidden chest for store credit was a thing, a positive motivation. It is just pretty telling to me that when people are willing to pay a sizeable premium to avoid a "central focus" that something is fundamental flawed.

 

[Joel Crestello]

Yeah I knew that more things were being added in the future, but I am a bit concerned they wont addresses it correctly/enough - adding more content, but content people only would want to do if they set out to do it ex. a hidden boss/dungeon/questline. I fear that anything worth doing would become common knowlage, like if there was a secret boss that dropped good gear everyone would know about it - hence no exploration. Referring to your claim that PW has always been about exploring, I haven't felt a pull to explore since the monthly hidden chest for store credit was a thing, a positive motivation. It is just pretty telling to me that when people are willing to pay a sizeable premium to avoid a "central focus" that something is fundamental flawed.

What would you personally suggest for giving incentives to exploration? I mean, referring to what you said about 'If a secret boss that dropped good gear everyone would know about it', that's how the community is and we're all willing to share a lot. For me, I guess a 'fix' or better way of approaching adding more secrets that give players special rewards is adding secret content - not mentioning it in patch notes. However, when people do eventually come across it would become widely known. Maybe another idea is to add more secrets based on Lore. Lore doesn't benefit players in a gameplay stand-point (unless there's something directly linked to it), rather help build the world and the only way of getting to know lore is exploring. Perhaps something like this?

 

[TallBlondeDude]

I don't really have amazing ideas for fixing it, maybe random events that spawn like a boss that drops high-quality loot that's only available for like 30 minutes, and people are given a general area like (North-West of London) and they can fight it as a team? Might be hard to balance. Another idea could be wandering traders that appear similarly random with no announcement that sells rarer recipes in a limited amount or buys from the player at a higher value? Not sure any of those are great, but something along those lines that incentives the players to find something that changes frequently would encourage more exploration imo.

 

[Joe_Magus]

I guess random timed events (quests/bosses that appear randomly at any landmark, town or just in the wilderness) and an event notice posted in chat i.e "A large pack of Wampus Cats have been terrorising locals around Griffins Hollow - Drive away the Wampus Cats - Reward 100 Gold 2500XP"

And then the incentive to travel through the wilderness in different locations is more present. The first person to enter the area around the mission claims it and tries to complete it! Maybe in a party you could complete them together!

I like the idea for the wandering traders - like a Caravan that is just moved to a different location every week - maybe a firedust travel and a little walk to get to it and its location is posted in the daily diviner!

 

[Joe_Magus]

Maybe different Totems/Statues around the wilderness could give some kind of small buff, so you would travel out to them if you ever wanted to change your buff? Kind of like the statues in Skyrim and Oblivion, but you can only ever have one buff active.

I.e Barter Skills 5% off in Mine Depot - Spell Speed -5% Spell Power +5% ect


Maybe mines out in the wilderness - deep caverns, chests with goodies in that respawn, but also some dangerous mobs!

More Puzzles out in the Wilderness - Riddles and Maps that lead to well hidden areas, which takes brains and parkour maybe to get further into the secret area!

 

[Joe_Magus]

32 Wizard Chess Pieces (16 White/ 16 Black) Randomly hidden around the map and a Quest or like a Wizards Chess Parkour to get the Board Once all are found they can all be traded in for a Wizards Chess Stone Table Decor - kind of like this

Pieces can be found more than once (Pawns obviously most common) Decor can be retrieved multiple times - means it takes longer to get all the pieces to get one - but a lot of hard work and saving and you could get a few! for a cool outdoor courtyard area Pieces could even be found at random in Resource Nodes!

 

[luckiestblock]

After reading through this thread there are a lot of good ideas.

• I really like the idea of random events, that would give a lot of life to the occasionally baron landscape.
• I like the buff totems idea.
• I like the reassurance that EVENTUALLY there will be more towns and quests.

I did want to point out a few things though and my personal solution.
First I wanted to say that while I understand in the future that new stuff will be added, we are not living in the future, we are living in the present. Why can't we get some nerfed version of the old warp key bag where you can warp to 4 or 3 locations just for a little while until the map becomes more populated? Maybe make it so you have to unlock those warps with materials and gold? Sure it would hurt a lot of people when they do eventually take it away but the transition would be much more graceful then a 15ish warp to 1 warp transition that we have currently.

Personally I believe the best solution to this issue is my "own" solution of adding a lot more secret methods of travel. I feel like the server would improve greatly if they added a ton more secret methods of travel such as the already existing vanishing cabinet and King's Cross. Yes I know this is a thread here but it has been On Hold for almost 3 months now and these suggestions can sometimes take even longer (6-8 months) then that to actually implement. I also believe there should more then 3 or 4 added, since this issue seems to mainly effect higher level players in my exprience maybe they should make these newer secret methods have some form of one time cost to "build". This could include stuff like materials, gold or even more out of the box stuff like a lot of firedust or some new item you can only get from chests.

 

[Joel Crestello]

After reading through this thread there are a lot of good ideas.

• I really like the idea of random events, that would give a lot of life to the occasionally baron landscape.
• I like the buff totems idea.
• I like the reassurance that EVENTUALLY there will be more towns and quests.

I did want to point out a few things though and my personal solution.
First I wanted to say that while I understand in the future that new stuff will be added, we are not living in the future, we are living in the present. Why can't we get some nerfed version of the old warp key bag where you can warp to 4 or 3 locations just for a little while until the map becomes more populated? Maybe make it so you have to unlock those warps with materials and gold? Sure it would hurt a lot of people when they do eventually take it away but the transition would be much more graceful then a 15ish warp to 1 warp transition that we have currently.

Personally I believe the best solution to this issue is my "own" solution of adding a lot more secret methods of travel. I feel like the server would improve greatly if they added a ton more secret methods of travel such as the already existing vanishing cabinet and King's Cross. Yes I know this is a thread here but it has been On Hold for almost 3 months now and these suggestions can sometimes take even longer (6-8 months) then that to actually implement. I also believe there should more then 3 or 4 added, since this issue seems to mainly effect higher level players in my exprience maybe they should make these newer secret methods have some form of one time cost to "build". This could include stuff like materials, gold or even more out of the box stuff like a lot of firedust or some new item you can only get from chests.

I'm actually working on that I made the suggestion before I was an unspeakable but now I'm on the team I'm working to creating some interesting fast travel methods, mainly ones that have some sort of deeper meaning w/ lore or ones you have to do a special task before accessing.

 

[Pankakes]

What would you personally suggest for giving incentives to exploration?

Here is a thread talking about forcing exploration, lack of map content and suggestions on how to improve it.

I recommend reading it (and maybe even replying to it), it really is worth a read imo
(Pic related)

 

[Aurora]

Hello @TallBlondeDude (and everyone else who responded to this thread),

Thank you for coming forward and taking your time to write up feedback for the server. We really appreciate it <3 I'll make sure this feedback is shared amongst the team. Also thank you to various people for the different suggestions in this thread. We'll definitely discuss those as well!
Have a great day!

 

[littledead]

Hello @TallBlondeDude and everyone else who contributed to this thread,

Thank you again for the feedback, we are always working towards improving the server and input from the community is a big help! We are looking to fill up our world with new builds, interesting encounters, unique mobs, different locations, and more in Potterworld 2.0. It might not be exactly the ideas brought up in this thread, but we hope it will give players more incentive to explore.

Thank you for your continuous patience and support, and have a wonderful day!

 

[Phyraoh]

Bumped after three years, wonder if these changes were implemented!

 

[Nives]

Bumped after three years, wonder if these changes were implemented!

Hi @Phyraoh , since the decision was sent here a few days ago, these changes have not yet been implemented. As said above, this will be implemented in Potterworld 2.0, which hasn't been released yet. Once it is released and this suggestion is completed, we will let you know on this thread!