Hi; I'm Foreskin, rank 17 on the leaderboard, playing mostly solo and red. We need to talk about the patch and how it affected build diversity.

Melee was completely neutered. Swords/maces were not competitive builds prepatch but dagger and axes were. Rapier was borderline pre-patch and now it is the only viable melee build. Strength is now the weakest stat in the game.

The patch had 3 objectives: Slow inflation, Balance PVP, Give incentive to be in Aehren. The patch failed at 2/3 of these objectives and as far as PVP balance the build/stat layouts are far less diverse/competitive then pre-patch.

Life drain needed a big nerf. axes needed a very small nerf, daggers a very small nerf, and swords/maces needed a large buff to their t1s to make them competitive with dagger/axe. PER was in a decent spot because they do insane single target damage to people without shield talent(2h melee users) of now there are none. INT was in a good spot and needed no changes, maybe a slight buff to poison as it was very out of flavor with everyone having 1000 fortitude. WIS was too strong but mostly because of life steal. Nerfing mindstrike crit was a good change but the scaling was ok.

In the future you should reach out to players who are experienced in the meta before making such large changes. Its very hard to get a grasp on the state of the meta unless you put in several hours of fighting each day. It's going to be very hard to put in the hours necessary if you are also developing a game.

Still looking forward to what you have planned next.

Fractured is somewhere in the middle when compared to its competitors in the genre; Sandbox MMO's with partial or full loot PvP.

Fractured ranks up as following from most casual friendly to least casual friendly: OSRS>Albion>Fractured>EVE>Mortal 2 : Using mechanics like global banking, quick travel, accessibility of content, built-in matchmaking, progression routes and methods as some of the metrics to define "casual friendly".

There will potentially be 2 new sandbox MMO's with full or partial loot PvP entering in tentatively in 2024, but they wont be relevant to the discussion until they reach persistence.

Hello: End game PVE in MMO's unfortunately revolves around progression(getting stronger) which can result in power creep. So when thinking of new systems that present the player with progression options we must try to accomplish as many objectives with a single system as we can. To not box ourselves into a corner later with power creep. Efficiency is the name of the game.

I present to you Fractured Capes:

On Terra: Random spawns/incursions appear on the map as a POI for players. Demi bosses and adds of medium difficulty that require at least one player in maximum gear to defeat. Demi Bosses have a 1/3 chance of dropping " basic cape shards" and a 1/15 chance of dropping an advanced cape shard

On Aehren: Random spawns/incursions appear on the map as a POI for player. Demi bosses and adds, These spawns are much easier then Terra. They have high health and some CC but low damage. A single player in good gear can solo this spawn without a specific build. These demi bosses have a 1/2 base chance of dropping basic cape shards and a 1/10 for advanced cape shard on good alignment.100% chance of dropping basic cape shard while flagged neutral or Red. While flagged Neutral or Red a player has a 1/3 chance of receiving an advanced cape shard.

On Aehren: A static mega boss location requiring 4 average players to defeat. This boss is on a 30minute timer. This boss always drops 5 basic cape shard and 5 advanced cape shard. This boss should also drop unique cosmetics. This boss can only be looted by neutrals or reds and when it is looted it puts a debuff on you that you can not trade players for 5minutes.

On Terra: A static mega boss location requiring 5 average players to defeat. This boss is on a 30minute timer. This boss always drops 3 basic cape shard and 2 advanced cape shard

Rolling the cape: After acquiring 3 basic cape shards and 1 advanced cape shard you can roll your first cape.The basic cape shards roll the traits of the cape; Anything from movement speed to life steal, to % dmg, to %mitigation to crafting bonus's that give bonus's to crafting gear.

You roll 3 traits on the cape, randomly.

The advanced cape shard determines the tier of the cape. All the way to t6. A t6 cape has visual animations on it and visual aesthetics over a t1 cape, has higher bonus's. a t1 cape might have 2% movement speed. A t6 cape might have 12% movement speed. A t1 cape might have 1% life steal/spell vamp and a t6 cape might have 8%. The gains do not have to be fully linear, take care not to give oppressive stats like lifesteal too much scaling.

You roll a tier level on the cape randomly. A t6 roll is 1/10000, a t5 roll is 1/2000, a t4 roll is 1/500, a t3 roll is 1/100, a t2 roll is 1/25

Rerolling capes:
To reroll the traits of your cape you only need 3 basic cape shards. This is rolled separately from the tier. It also costs gold/reagents to reroll traits.

To reroll the tier of your cape you need 1 advanced cape shard and 2 basic cape shards and gold. The tier of your cape can never decrease, it can only increase. If you roll a t4 cape. It rolls for the t5 and t6 separately, if both rolls win then it prioritizes the highest tier.

Capes are soulbound when equipped for all players, including reds.
Capes can be traded
Capes are not soulbound if in the inventory
Capes have durability and must be recharged with gold and reagents depending which traits the cape has and recharging also requires basic cape shards. Capes lose durability on death. A 0 durability cape will not provide any bonus's and any visual animations are lost.

All monsters on Aehren have a mega rare drop table that can include advanced cape shards and basic cape shards. The probability of this mega rare drop table is based on monster tier. This mega rare drop table can not roll if the monster dies in a safe zone.

Terra monsters do not have access to the mega rare drop table. Incursions/boss are the only way to obtain shards on terra.

This system accomplishes many objectives at the same time. 1: It gets players roaming for incursion POI's, there will be several of these available on the map at any given time but you will have to roam between them. A group of 2 players on Aehren should be able to complete 3-4 incursions per hour after banking is considered. 2: It gives large guilds a static location to hold down. There can be 2 static boss locations per map.3: It creates a gold and reagent sink, the gold costs associated with repairing/rerolling/charging capes should be significant. 4. It creates a new economy for shards, capes will need basic shards to repair their durability. Shards will always have value.

Also major consideration were made in this system to player crafting. The capes are crafted by the player, as well as tradeable. I know the fractured team does not like "Unique item drops", so this system holds true to your values.

Game is gonna be sick after demon world and dungeons come in. Hopefully they decide to do unique drops, even if theyre cosmetics or fluff items. OSRS is a better game then Albion imo and one of the things it does right is unique drops. The game really motivates you to take challenging boss fights, even if those boss fights are in the wilderness.

relocate + battlejump or charge
mana drain
glass barrier/ele aura that monster is weak to
then supplement with whatever dps/cc you have unlock

You shouldnt insult people and then ask them for help in the same sentence. Very bizarre behavior.

I know you're considering or have already considered a F2P limited gameplay approach. These models do historically have good results in isometric games. In the case you do go through with it I have some suggestions that will make new account abuse less impactful to the game and its economy.

Trial accounts talent point limited to 30.
Can only start beastman
Can not use portal
Can not use 3 point abilities

Hello: End game PVE in MMO's unfortunately revolves around progression(getting stronger) which can result in power creep. So when thinking of new systems that present the player with progression options we must try to accomplish as many objectives with a single system as we can. To not box ourselves into a corner later with power creep. Efficiency is the name of the game.

I present to you Fractured Capes:

On Terra: Random spawns/incursions appear on the map as a POI for players. Demi bosses and adds of medium difficulty that require at least one player in maximum gear to defeat. Demi Bosses have a 1/3 chance of dropping " basic cape shards" and a 1/15 chance of dropping an advanced cape shard

On Aehren: Random spawns/incursions appear on the map as a POI for player. Demi bosses and adds, These spawns are much easier then Terra. They have high health and some CC but low damage. A single player in good gear can solo this spawn without a specific build. These demi bosses have a 1/2 base chance of dropping basic cape shards and a 1/10 for advanced cape shard on good alignment.100% chance of dropping basic cape shard while flagged neutral or Red. While flagged Neutral or Red a player has a 1/3 chance of receiving an advanced cape shard.

On Aehren: A static mega boss location requiring 4 average players to defeat. This boss is on a 30minute timer. This boss always drops 5 basic cape shard and 5 advanced cape shard. This boss should also drop unique cosmetics. This boss can only be looted by neutrals or reds and when it is looted it puts a debuff on you that you can not trade players for 5minutes.

On Terra: A static mega boss location requiring 5 average players to defeat. This boss is on a 30minute timer. This boss always drops 3 basic cape shard and 2 advanced cape shard

Rolling the cape: After acquiring 3 basic cape shards and 1 advanced cape shard you can roll your first cape.The basic cape shards roll the traits of the cape; Anything from movement speed to life steal, to % dmg, to %mitigation to crafting bonus's that give bonus's to crafting gear.

You roll 3 traits on the cape, randomly.

The advanced cape shard determines the tier of the cape. All the way to t6. A t6 cape has visual animations on it and visual aesthetics over a t1 cape, has higher bonus's. a t1 cape might have 2% movement speed. A t6 cape might have 12% movement speed. A t1 cape might have 1% life steal/spell vamp and a t6 cape might have 8%. The gains do not have to be fully linear, take care not to give oppressive stats like lifesteal too much scaling.

You roll a tier level on the cape randomly. A t6 roll is 1/10000, a t5 roll is 1/2000, a t4 roll is 1/500, a t3 roll is 1/100, a t2 roll is 1/25

Rerolling capes:
To reroll the traits of your cape you only need 3 basic cape shards. This is rolled separately from the tier. It also costs gold/reagents to reroll traits.

To reroll the tier of your cape you need 1 advanced cape shard and 2 basic cape shards and gold. The tier of your cape can never decrease, it can only increase. If you roll a t4 cape. It rolls for the t5 and t6 separately, if both rolls win then it prioritizes the highest tier.

Capes are soulbound when equipped for all players, including reds.
Capes can be traded
Capes are not soulbound if in the inventory
Capes have durability and must be recharged with gold and reagents depending which traits the cape has and recharging also requires basic cape shards. Capes lose durability on death. A 0 durability cape will not provide any bonus's and any visual animations are lost.

All monsters on Aehren have a mega rare drop table that can include advanced cape shards and basic cape shards. The probability of this mega rare drop table is based on monster tier. This mega rare drop table can not roll if the monster dies in a safe zone.

Terra monsters do not have access to the mega rare drop table. Incursions/boss are the only way to obtain shards on terra.

This system accomplishes many objectives at the same time. 1: It gets players roaming for incursion POI's, there will be several of these available on the map at any given time but you will have to roam between them. A group of 2 players on Aehren should be able to complete 3-4 incursions per hour after banking is considered. 2: It gives large guilds a static location to hold down. There can be 2 static boss locations per map.3: It creates a gold and reagent sink, the gold costs associated with repairing/rerolling/charging capes should be significant. 4. It creates a new economy for shards, capes will need basic shards to repair their durability. Shards will always have value.

Also major consideration were made in this system to player crafting. The capes are crafted by the player, as well as tradeable. I know the fractured team does not like "Unique item drops", so this system holds true to your values.

Fractured is somewhere in the middle when compared to its competitors in the genre; Sandbox MMO's with partial or full loot PvP.

Fractured ranks up as following from most casual friendly to least casual friendly: OSRS>Albion>Fractured>EVE>Mortal 2 : Using mechanics like global banking, quick travel, accessibility of content, built-in matchmaking, progression routes and methods as some of the metrics to define "casual friendly".

There will potentially be 2 new sandbox MMO's with full or partial loot PvP entering in tentatively in 2024, but they wont be relevant to the discussion until they reach persistence.

@GamerSeuss said in F2P Tutorial Model - Settings to reduce abuse:

Fractured on the other hand is meant to be a pay once, play forever with no limitations game.

There is absolutely no way I believe this. That's like saying WOW vanilla was also pay once, play forever. What active MMO that is also dev'd with regular updates is run on that business model? There are none to my knowledge.

You either pay for expansions or your pay for subs. Fractured is in a spot where it could chose to do either of these. Because the Portal system mesh's well with the expansion model.

@GamerSeuss No one said anything about free 2 play. Its a limited gameplay account. For those of you familiar with OSRS; the portal system in Fractured could function as a de-facto Falador members gate.

To get through that gate, you need to purchase the title. Taking this approach now gives us flexibility later. Years down the road there could be a map that is subscribers only, while people who purchased the game but are not actively subscribed can only access the original 3 maps...Not saying this is the path you necessarily will take or want to but setting yourself up with the most available options in the future is a good strategy.

As of right now I think a limited gameplay account would monetize better then finishing the VIP system. The game has had very little exposure, the reddit fractured community has under 2000 members. The demographic we are targeting is the desktop clients on OSRS/Albion and of those players, very few are aware this game exists.

The only complication I can think of is Steam. I don't know if it can handle limited game play accounts and subscriptions. But I guess it can because EVE has the same model and you can play entirely through steam.

Restricting the trial players to one planet sets you up later(in the future) for good game theory implementation. You can gate the most engaging, fun content on the planets that require a purchased title to access. When people come in to try the game with their friends they will be able to play on Terra with them but as soon as their friends go to engage in high-tier content they will have to watch from the sidelines. This will promote sales. Naturally it makes the most sense on Terra as trial accounts will have the least abuse potential there.

If you do not set it up initially in this way there is no going back, this option is typically never reversed once implemented.

Cant increase the penalties for red on Aehren until there is a free for all map. Then you can turn it into the "Yellow zone" after that, with even harsher penalties. Right now it is filling the purpose of Taratos but doing a poor job at it. Besides crystals and leveling skills there is little reason to be in Aehren unless you are looking to be a Red or looking to hunt for Reds. Making reds less competitive then they already are will reduce the population on this continent even further. We shouldn't take anything else away from Aehren, it is already the slums.

@spoletta I dont think blocking market or trades is necessary. We want people to be grouping and interacting in Terra. An account with 30 talents points and only 2 point abilities will farm very slowly compared to a maxed account.

Gold sellers will not be able to be competitive without at least purchasing the game. And then they run the risk of getting the hammer later.

They will also be restricted to Terra, I expect over time the more dangerous areas of the map(s) will be the most lucrative and have access to uniquely competitive farming content. IE: Rev caves(OSRS) or Wormholes(Eve)

You will have to purchase the game to access this content.

Fractureds leveling process is its strongest point right now, that and the unique class building system for your character. It is very fun leveling your char in fractured. We should give prospective players a taste of that.

10000 gold isn't that much. Especially considering none of the end game content is here yet; Demonworld/Asteroids. I expect the gold rate to go up over time (gold creep). I also expect reds to not be jailable on demon world.

I don't think the current gear loss/gold loss are worth nerfing based on the above. Even with current loss mechanics ive profited over 1million pking, mostly alone or in duos.

We need to focus on end-game content and getting aehren to be a continent worth farming on, worthy of the risk. If that's accomplished then 10000 gold isn't going to be a challenge for most people.

They nerfed plate based on a knee jerk reaction to a ton of players rushing knight armor because no one understood the meta yet.

Knight armor was trash before the nerf, it is even worse now. The only thing they did was piss everyone off who spent gold/time crafting up plate.

The reason plate sucks is because you can get huge penetration out of INT/DEX so youre eliminating your ability to use spells and a portion of your damage for nothing in return.

@Meiki They will get 80 hours of protection.