The World of Secfenia

I have put together an anonymous form for our players to be able to provide feedback:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... sp=sf_link

No one is required to put their username in it if you do not feel comfortable as I want to get all feedback that you may want to share. If you want to provide your username, I will be happy to have it as well. I will keep the survey up for about 2 weeks.

@Zachrin
Curious on the update for this...

Also -Was there also a poll for opening up the map to other places to inhabit? (Even if ran with an AI government) I would absolutely love to hear if this was going to be possible.)

This was part of the poll:

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Would you like to see the Additional Character System Expanded?

0 Yes - Maybe Up to 5 different Characters just in the two VR's
0 Yes - Maybe Up to 5 different Characters with the potential to open VR's on the other side of the continent to give a new dynamic to RP
0 No
0 I'm Indifferent
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I think this would have real possibility - otherwise we face a collapse here. 2 VR's just isnt dynamic enough. I dont see what it can hurt. I'd love to create another character in some far off area of the map. We already are trading with other VR's...
Id also love a use for things like dates and all the other foods that have just uses for just eating and saving in our storages.
They could be used for various things like more options to feed animals, such as cows or pigs or chickens or even pets since certain foods for pets are not always easily found. Wheat really is an expensive option for feeding animals on a VR level and a player level. Or for preserves or different pies.. Or maybe in the months of October and Novermber, ONLY we can use 5-7 fruits and veg. to make Thanksgiving dinners. (Out of Carrots, Cauliflower, Onions, Radish, Dates, lemons, apples, artichokes, turnips, Leg of Rabit, jalapenos, cantaloupe)
Or perhaps hippogriff eggs give you travel boosts for a week, (Like redbull they give you wings?) rather being the form it is today, because you would think that they would be something special rather than what they currently are, which is quite sad. Just another thing to eat and not do anything for us.

Anyhow that is where my brain imagination goes at times. I love this game and think we could be exciting here too... I know that means more work for Zachrin. =( The possibility of living in different areas has great appeal to me. Maybe some wish to become hermits, or there is an Area for just Dragons.. or other creatures. We have this huge map and we hardly use it.

If VR's evolved for easier operations, lowering cost of bodies to run and finances, imagine ALL the VR's we could have. The less players we have the less people want to be in government offices stuck in their vr. I love traveling around. There are a few of us out there that do enjoy it immensely. More characters registered equals more bodies to dip their toes into working VR's, as long as people are not abusing it, why not? We already have towns that have ONE person doing every town job, which was never meant to be... And lets be realistic about VR's, we have seen done exactly the same. I quit being on council years ago because of that. So why not embrace it. Make VR's only need 3-4 bodies to operate? You know as well as I do, we've done that already, we just call it musical chairs in the real world.

The Top 2 results from the offsite Anonymous Poll was:

1) I'm Indifferent at 45%
2) Yes - Maybe Up to 5 different Characters with the potential to open VR's on the other side of the continent to give a new dynamic to RP at 31%

This has me brainstorming a bit in my mind.

I completely agree with Wyllow on sooo many points that were made. Once upon a time I LOVED to travel around, now I am bound by my duties to Imperius to stay constantly in the town....never ever leaving. I don't dislike my job, but I would like it a whole lot more if I had a bit of freedom to travel for a few days at best to grab a few items I need from a market, for example in Bravia, and return home. I have a friend in Bravia who quite often will travel all over the place for me, gather up what I need, or what I have asked for, and then she returns home to deal with her fields and such, which I don't blame her. However then I have to wait again, until she is ready to travel the few days it takes to get to Imperius so that I can be given the items she has for me. If I were allowed to travel I could meet her in Bravia, Pick up my items and return all within a short time frame. No harm, no foul and the town would benefit from my short time away! I have always complained that the food waste was crazy! The recipes that could be made with foreign fruits and unique items would be so much fun and how much code would it really be? We have the radish cauliflower, dates lemons apples turnis cantaloupe, onions, artichokes leg of rabbit, etc but what really do we do with them. Oh right just eat them. What a waste. Same with the Wheat, and the corn. There are so many other uses we could do with them. Yes making animal feed is one......however animals rarely are fed from wheat, they are fed hay which is a seed planted on the field and grown much like a grass........and let to grow. It is harvested several times in it's growth cycle and then it is gone. It has a 3 cut or 4 cut life cycle only but the first yield is VERY high, with the second being shorter and so on. The final cut is much less and of a lower quality food for the cows. It brings the least amount of money on market normally due to it's quality of food. That in itself is a coding nightmare so I would leave the food quality for the animals out of the equation. But it would be nice to be able to mill wheat into flour for baking and not for animal feed. Animal seed corn is different than the corn we eat. Sweet corn is one corn and the other just call it Seed corn........and that we use course grind for animal feed.

The hippogriff egg could be cracked and eaten by a Mayor that needs to travel and not have the peasants of the town not know that they are gone. This egg could provide them with invisibility protection for a short duration.....ie x number of days. The number of days travel has to be put into the egg before it is eaten. So each time the Mayor using the egg has to calculate their time away very carefully and it will have a max of course to prevent abuse. so for example the max distance is say paz. So from Fenia to Paz is a 5 day trip or 10days round trip....that is the max the egg would allow. So therefore the user of the egg would have to input x number of days away and then crack the egg, consume the contents, but not have eaten that day yet, and then it will automatically set them onto the road to travel. There first day has been logged into the egg and they are now invisible. If they take longer to return then the set time their invisibility wears off and the corruption level by the peasants will rise at double the speed. The peasants will be angered at being tricked therefore the reason for double the corruption rate. This also keeps within the theme of the game. The egg could be used by anyone with the invisibility skill or anyone in office like a Mayor, Mentor, Sherriff, or Rancher. Just an idea to toss into the ring so to speak.

The way things are set up now is far too restricting for the Mayor at least. I would love to see less corruption rate if the town is happy and things are being done right. There is no reason for the peasants to be angered and corruption rates to be increasing the way they are for no reason. It just doesn't seem to be staying within the theme. Anyway this is just an idea for you to ponder and consider. It's your game and your choices. I just think we don't keep new people here because it is so boring and nothing to do. I fought hard to stay here when I was little and if it wasn't for me having another realm, other realm, and nother realm I don't think I would have stayed. But I did and I found a way for me to learn and find my own way. When I was small no one helped me at all.......so it was a real struggle. I think we need more things for players to look forward to is all.

Lukoki wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 7:02 am The hippogriff egg could be cracked and eaten by a Mayor that needs to travel and not have the peasants of the town not know that they are gone. This egg could provide them with invisibility protection for a short duration.....ie x number of days.

I appreciate you taking the time to reply and put your thoughts forward. I have been contemplating using the Hippogriff egg in a travel manner and this idea is very interesting.

Lukoki wrote:The way things are set up now is far too restricting for the Mayor at least. I would love to see less corruption rate if the town is happy and things are being done right. There is no reason for the peasants to be angered and corruption rates to be increasing the way they are for no reason. It just doesn't seem to be staying within the theme. Anyway this is just an idea for you to ponder and consider.

I'll add taking a look at corruption changes at the town level on my to do list. I have a couple ideas right now I'm contemplating changing including the Town Zoo issue.

Lukoki wrote: It's your game and your choices. I just think we don't keep new people here because it is so boring and nothing to do. I... But I did and I found a way for me to learn and find my own way. When I was small no one helped me at all.......so it was a real struggle. I think we need more things for players to look forward to is all.

I am glad that you did stay with us. I'm sorry that no one helped you out during your early times. I am always looking on ways to improve the game for our players including things for our players to do. Dicemaster was one of the additions to try to help newer players interact with anyone. I plan on extending this a bit more in time as well. There is an upcoming event as well.. With that said, I am always happy to hear ideas on what might be added that players might look forward to as well

I can say that in all of the browser MMOs I've tried so far, the thing that keeps me going back to the ones I still use besides Secfenia is notable progression. I dropped Renaissance Kingdoms because it was grindy and I would go many days before progressing in any skills, levels, crafting or anything. I play Grail Lords even though there's little in the way of meaningful interaction to cause personal investment, because every time I use a skill it progresses and there are a ton of skills that can be used and built up by new players. Every day I can raise a skill a little, work on reading a book, work on crafting something or preparing my own food, etc, so every day I feel like I've done something meaningful for my character.

I am attached to Secfenia now because y'all jumped right in and befriended me right away and I'm a sucker for that. I like the way it's built and it has a homey, welcoming, family feel. But I have to admit that it feels like I've been working at level 2 for forever already, and at this point it feels like a waiting game until I can get to the cool stuff like crafting. My daily routine is very rote now, and the most variation that I get comes from player interaction and roleplay. I like that difference and I'm patient, but I think some people might look at the leveling requirements and after a while feel like they're not going to break into anything new for too long.

Gaining the required stats to level up is the grindiest point for me. With foods being the only way to raise stats, and food quality being gated behind availability and financial capability, it does look like it'll take forever when one views all the stats they have to raise. Maybe if beginners had more opportunities to gain stat points it might help. Books perhaps, or random problems to solve? Random events during things like training, foraging, etc. or at the churches or zoos, maybe? For instance, during foraging a chance to get something like "You fall through the floor of an abandoned house into the root cellar. It takes you a couple of hours, but you figure out how to pile up old stores and rubble to climb back out. (+1 Int)". Or even when you go to sell things, random chance for "Your steward twists their ankle loading up your supplies to take to the market, so you finish the loading for them. Who knew those crates were so heavy? (+1 Str)". And so forth. It would offer another chance for the community to participate in building by asking people to submit ideas for events, too.

Housing is another thing that might cause new players to feel like they're never gonna make it. I don't even know how to get a lot of the stuff I'll need to start building my house, and being able to buy a plot but having to leave it empty for who knows how long until I level up to crafting and making more money is kind of a tease. If there was a level of housing that new players could build out of cheaper materials and then upgrade or add to later as they level up, that'd help with those who feel unrewarded for the amount of time they need to spend to level. Perhaps you could add clay and straw to items found while foraging, or as a byproduct of field work, and add a "cob hut" option to place on property, or something like that, or a way to make tents.

I do suggest taking a look at Grail Lords just for their variety of progression activities, and see if there's anything that sparks ideas. They drive me crazy with running out of stamina too quickly and being done for the day, but skill progression keeps me going back.

Onto a new topic of feedback.........The Spooktacular quest.

The amulet fragment drop percentage last year was a huge topic of complaints. Again this year I am sure it is going to be as well. I am hearing from the people of Imperius and of Bravia that they are struggling to find a couple of fragments over 5 days. I myself have found 1 piece over 3 days now. I search both times in a day that you're allowed and the max amount of times. That is plain ridiculous that I have only found 1 fragment! I won't have a chance to finish this quest at all between the bug on the first day that lasted for 3 days right up to this issue and I am only on Phase II. This is just plain frustrating enough to make even the seasoned player give up on it. What would a newbie player do? If I was them, I would quit and I know it. I would be thinking if this is how hard their quests are and how full of bugs, why stay. This is how you have to look at it. You have to look at it from a new players stand point. How would they view it? I know that if the early start of something is so long, drawn out and simply put.......down right hard......why continue with it? That is simply put, the lamens terms. I don't mind putting forth maximum effort into anything but I am to the point now where I want to just give up and not bother. I don't feel the reward is worth the effort at this point. I am pretty sure I won't complete the quest especially with the struggles I am seeing already.

Rant over.

Hi Lukoki! And any new players who may be frustrated as this says.

A few things here and I'll go in points to be easier.

ISSUES WITH LAUNCH
First and foremost on behalf of our whole Dev team I apologize for the issues when our event started. Unfortunately, due to hurricane Helene some of us, including Zachrin, found ourselves without internet for an extended period time impacting not just our work here but primary jobs as well. We normally have a better chance to run through an event fully during the first small period of time after pushing it live for everyone to enjoy. This allows us to make quick fixes in the event of errors.

We all do apologize that the damage to our area created some major bumps in the road. That's not why you come to play a game, to experience issues. I share this information not as an excuse, because we fully own that we were not able to test as much as normal, but to share the reality of what is going on.

As of Sunday night/Monday morning I believe everyone has power or internet back and we are all working as quickly as possible to resolve any errors we find or that were reported before we are hit with a direct hit from Milton as Secfenia's very own Zachrin is in the direct path of the storm and I, myself, am in the cone of uncertainty.

FRAGMENT CHANCES
Folks it's day 8. Just day 8. And I assure you there is ample time to find fragments. This event is not an event meant to be beaten in a week. I have barely started because I always deliberately force myself behind the pack to ensure there is ample time. If we start to notice that items aren't found in a reasonable timeframe we will reevaluate. Your fragment collection starts when you recieve the quest to do so. You will do great, I have every confidence. Lukoki, you are always phenomenal at events and I have little doubt this one will be the same. I do understand being frustrated that things aren't going as fast. But I can assure you it's absolutely possible to find what you need well within a reasonable time frame.

I will review the numbers again, and ensure that all seems to be going correctly.

And if anyone has specific questions feel free to message me directly. Or @ me on Discord if you're part of the community there.

Please do know with Milton bearing down on us some of our team, myself included, may be slow to respond, but we've taken every precaution to try to ensure we stay online to help and to hear what folks say.

Please remember that you are all amazing and worth it to us.

If you have issues locating items for your quests reach out to the makers of those items or your Mentor/Mayor/Viceroy/Monarch. We do want everyone to do well. But it's not meant to be over in a few days either.

At the end of this year we will run a poll. If everyone is truly still unhappy with the event we will consider scrapping it and brainstorming new ideas.