CrossFire Mod Feedback v2.0 - 2016

u have no good words left?

Part of a Galaxy Rangers job is to assist newbs without spoiling the mod and it's secrets. You can always message one of them for help with like 90% of the stuff you mentioned in your post.

You're right though, most newbies see the mod on ModDB and think "i don't wanna go on discovery because it's too (insert derrogatory statements) what else is there? Hey Crossfire, this looks badass! Let's try it" without really thinking about the kickass community that's been around longer than Lancers Reactor. So veteran players have to step up and say "hey new guy, go check out the forums, they're awesome"

So instead of trying to change or implement stuff that may or may not work, just improve what we got.

I do like newbie night though. That's something I could host. I need someone to take me on a couple trips outside Sirius and Altair. As much as I've played this game, I've only gone to IC once and never been to Canis

That can be arranged

Quote from darkwraith007

Surprised there are no megathreads for feedback. Some intial newbie thoughts.

Ofc such things are here, it need only some little searching ... : 2015 Nostalgia Of The Year (or Century) , Finished SP CF 2.0, few words , CF 2.0 SP feedback ,

Quote from darkwraith007

-The 'rules' banner in New York is really not necessary. Considering how few people are playing and to attract more players, it may be wise to just stick a ReadMe in the CrossFire directory (or the launcher) and have the players agree to it before launching MultiPlayer each time. The current placement & implementation of the 'rules' banner creates quite a negative and sour impression of the mod itself. It is even present in Single Player for some reason (!?) which makes zero sense.

For SP its present in non-scripted situation and cannot be changed bcs its the same system like is in MP. This rules banner like you say IS NECESSARY to be right in space after player undock, bcs NO ONE reads readme and many not bother to visit portal. This wall of text is there purposely and make perfect sense for us

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-Even better would be including the 'Starter Guide' within the Mod itself, perhaps as a Neural Net post that the players have when starting up. Not every player is going to read the forums for the first time and know the way to get better equipment so that they don't get beaten up by NPCs all the time. It may not appear to the veterans here but NPCs are far above and beyond significantly more difficult to fight than in Vanilla. That will put off a lot of new players if they aren't aware of how they are 'supposed' to start off (trading) until they get money for a good ship.

It is players fault that they do not check launcher ... its OFC much more as only start SP or MP. These who look little on it may find link named "Starter Guide" ... and now maybe less wonder why is such wall of text in NY ...

Quote from darkwraith007

-It would be really helpful for newbies to start off neutral with all factions by default until they start choosing sides. This way they can only blame themselves when they get zerged by Liberty Rogues or Xenos and obliterated in their starter ship with pea-shooters for guns. This allows them to trade or to make enemies/friends with whomever they like. Instead of starting off friendly with the Police they'd have to blow up a few criminals to gain their trust first.

Player can do basic neutral char in ... hmm 60 seconds (ok, it may need 120) when in mod, it could be enough check CF wiki, there are quite easy and understandable written guides how to do it. And if player get zerged, he maybe start search info how to fight better? ... in launcher are included combat video guides created for new players ...

Quote from darkwraith007

-Dedicated Hint NPC on Manhatten. For a small fee (2k creds) they will reveal all of the New York map with JumpHoles and everything including what bases sell which items. This is optional to put in but would really help with newbies who want to get a head start on the game instead of manually exploring the starter system. Get an idea of trade prices and start making money right away.

But cmon! ... lets take a look what will happen when you will here type New York ... (click on it as link and a surprise )

Quote from darkwraith007

-Newbie Night. Once a week hold a newbie night to help those who are under Rank X (pick one) with any questions/hints/etc and advice. Just a simple Q&A session for a few minutes.

There are in MP many ppl helping regularly new players. But could be that this new player need to ASK ... ASK a question or ask for help is the best way how new player can learn many thing in very short time. (point player into CF Wiki is also not bade idea ... yes, also to this is link in launcher)

Quote from darkwraith007

-Universe Chat. It may be useful due to the low population to permit/allow Universe Chat until the population increases to a certain point and remains stable.

Universum channel is restricted to server staff (Admin, GR, EMs).

Quote from darkwraith007

-Announce Blurbs. Please let us turn them off or at least not have them visible on the screen. If there is a way to do so then I'd love to hear about it (maybe 'Turn off HUD' in Multiplayer keybinds?).

... here dunno what is meant by this.

• The rules banner in New York IS necessary. This banner is only visible in MP and serves its purpose. Removing that banner does clearly not attract more players (why should the removal attract more players?). Fact however is that if you ask the CF players if they have read the readme then the majority of them will tell you "no". Therefore putting rules into a file that nobody reads makes absolutely no sense. Putting the rules infront the start location in MP however will get players to read them. To put it into the launcher and force players to agree to them each time they launch is also nonsense because thats something that will disturb players do the opposite of "attracting" them. The rules are not in singlepalyer. If you see the rules in singleplay then either you have not installed the mod correctly or you have not installed the latest verion of the mod.
• Starter Guides exist in the mod. Infact you can access them via the launcher or via file inside the mod directory. We even have detailed video guides. The fact that you dont know about them makes my point about rules in the launcher and readme even more valid.
• Why should newbies start with a neutral reputation? FL never started with a neutral reputation. That takes the fun away from the mod, the challenge and in the end also the need to find a way to create a mostly neutral reputation. Its the way a player has to go while exploring the universe. Starting with neutral reputation is like cheating and that clearly not what we want on this server. Next to that is that totally counter productive considering the story elements of the mod. It would completely destroy the storyline or the need to discover things step by step. People which get killed in their starter ships better should watch our starter guides (see point 2).
• Seriouly? Buying maps in New York? That system is so small and many objects are already reveiled by default.... why is there a need to buy maps in a system that holds no big secrets and no dangers? You can explore the entire system in just 10mins.
• Newbie Night? hmmm ok... and what if there is a newbie night each day? Players under a specific rank are by default protected in this mod. Clans on the server help new players whenever they need help. Thats a princible that is valid for many years on our server. And if that is not enough there is still the forum... coz we are a community... not just a few lonely individuals playing on the same server.
• Unlocking universe chat? Nobody wants to be forced to listen to spam without the ability to turn it off. Fact is that the universe chat always was used to submit important information to the players buy the admins, server police and event managers. This clearly wont get replaced by spam coz thats really going to drive people away from the server.
• Turning off announcements is also not an option. In a few months when you lost your MP-ID I can tell you "hey, there was an announcement once each hour telling you to backup your MP-ID... obviously you decided to ignore the announcements so your account is lost now... too bad". Announcements have their purpose... they wont be turned off. As long the announcements are running you cant blame us for not informing the players about important stuff.

@darkwraith007 man, you get detailed explanation to every your concern. Regarding starting guide there ofc can be done update, easiest is ask if can ge this done (we can discuss it in pm if there is more things you think is worth tell new players).

And regarding server content ... mate, You go to 'fight' which is not needed at all and which you can't win ... you gave some points, they vere evaluated in friendly manner and regarding server rejected. It is free decision of server admin to do so and is free your decision if stay or not.

Quote from darkwraith007

When you and others like you are politely telling me to shut up and leave, then you will get your wish. ...

no, it is not what I tried in my replies. Maybe its my poor English usage if you had such feeling. I wanted only say that are matters where you can achieve changes (like Starting guide) and then are matters where it is unlikely.

Therefore I ask for Starting guide if there is something what you want to add there. I wrote that guide with help of others (specially grammar correction was terrible work ) and if can improve it, I will gladly do it.

Quote from darkwraith007

There are little to no people playing MP. They're always in different zones and cannot hear System chat and do not respond to whispers. Have you tried? No you haven't because you don't care and want to just spout out bullshit. Players will ask and then even if they get a response and IF it isn't a troll/hateful response, then they may just act like you and be told 'go watch the guide and go read the wiki' instead of being provided some direction or an answer to a simple question.

There are players with many different languages playing on server. In some cases can be things explained by direct help, but IF there is more things/details asked, then imo better solution is point player to place where he can find answers OR ask if is needed (yes, it also lead player here to portal) and this can be done also with only basic English knowledge. Is a fact that recently I personally am not on server much, but guess what, I was very active for more years and tried help as much as I could. It is always warming to read nice feedback like this yours

Clan leaders can create messages for a player to read that pop open as soon as the player has entered the clan system. I seen this in IOC's system so maybe a "quick hint" message pop up when a new player enters the server. Make it so everyone under a certain level has it pop up. Quick hints could be related to rep hacks, basic CF info (How to get to X3404 the easiest, Shoot Xeno's to gain neutral rep wtih all NPC factions etc...) But thats just my thought. Eventually, someone will complain about that. Can't please everyone all of the time eh?

Remember, the majority of the players in this particular mod community are from Europe. The server is located in Germany. I've seen the population cap at 25 people earlier this week. averaged 16-22 people during the peak times of the day. On top of that, believe it or not people have lives outside this game, or they play something else. I spend my days off playing Freelancer. You get the experience out of the game what you put into it. I spend all day (on my day) being Cantana Focks, The Republic Alliance's Second in Command, The Silver Tongued son of the the late business mogul Rigel Focks. I put serious effort into writing GNS articles and causing "havoc" on the server to write those articles. If you want to truly enjoy this game, just get over the little stuff. An in game help manual would be nice, but then someone somewhere down the future someone is going to complain about it causing another discussion like this that, as i see it, is going nowhere. It's good conversation imo, but only a few things on your list of feedback could be implimented. I really like the Idea of Newbie night and that is something i may organize, since i do pop on the server during peak times occasionally.

Consider all the resources any player has available to them: The CF wiki, the launcher, discussion threads that with a little digging, i'm sure you can find one that addresses one issue. You also have the Galaxy Rangers on the server. We are on the server but sometimes we don't announce our presence. I like to put a message "Hey, If you have questions about CF and the server, ask me." On top of that you have veteran players who know the in's and outs of this game who are sometimes more than helpful to lend a hand. "fault" is a harsh word but it's a synonym for choice. Fault is a blame word and the only blame that can be made is on the one who made the *Choice* to not use the resources available to them. There is literally no way someone cannot miss out on the treasure trove of knownledge unless they willfully ignored the announcement messages that repeat for all eternity in an infinite loop for all to see.

People always can't answer a question off the top of their head. For example, if someone asks me a question in real life that i don't know the answer to, i respond with "I dunno. google it" so pointing someone in the direction of the CF Wiki is no different.

If OP changed every little thing that everyone had a problem with, this server would literally be no fun because everyone gets what they want just so they as an individual can enjoy the game and screw everyone else. It's no fun playing with yourself...

Quote from darkwraith007

The announcements are not once an hour. The announcements (various ones) are about every 10 mins or so. It seriously detracts from the player experience, especially in combat. Even in most F2P games, I don't get a pop up announcement every 10 mins. And when I do, I don't tend to stay for long.

I said that the MP-ID message happens once an enough. Infact there is a 1 hour cycle of announcements and I dont intent do change that.

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You mentioned you put that rules banner there for a reason, so perhaps an announcement banner can also be placed there for these repeating announcements (or add it to the rules banner) instead.
There should be a way of 'hiding' announcements from the main screen and having them only show up when you open the chat window.

And I tought you dislike the rules banner?

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Newbies would start with neutral reputation because their first encounter with a hostile Xenos/Rogue would leave them destroyed in space. Repeatedly. And then they'd quit. And the servers would remain stagnant without an influx of new people.
At least starting with a neutral reputation (in MP) would allow newbies to 'restart' their character if they went in guns blazing and realized too late that the AI is significantly more difficult to fight than before. You're comparing the mod to Vanilla but you should realize that this mod is as far different from Vanilla as you could imagine. I find it curious you use the 'Vanilla' blurb when nearly everything in the mod has been enhanced to be more than just Vanilla. It isn't 'cheating' to start with neutral reputation on a Multiplayer Server using a custom non-Vanilla Freelancer mod like CrossFire.

I have named plenty of good reasons why new players wont start with a neutral reputation. In more than 10 years that this mod and this server exists you are the first one who wants a boring neutral char.
Yes, we are still focused on the vanilla gameplay. Our main goal with this mod was to extend the vanilla gameplay but not to alter it to something that simply has nothing to do with the original game anymore.

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Buying maps in New York is for those who would WANT that option. Those who want to explore can explore and those who don't want to explore the starter system can pay a bit of creds to make it a bit easier to start trading/exploring other areas. I'm not saying this would be in EVERY system but only in New York (starter system).

I still dont see the point... you can do a round trip to every station in just 5mins.... 10mins to explore the entire system. The starting money is better to be spent for something useful and not maps.

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I did read through the Starter Guide and it isn't nearly as helpful or as useful as people may realize. It is ok but not ideal. It presumes and mostly mandates that 'you must do trading' to a new player who may want to just do missions and destroy NPCs instead. It doesn't provide any decent hints/tips on where to go or what to do in regards to getting a good combat-ready ship or what is a waste of money.

One of the main ideas of Crossfire is to explore the game... thats why you wont find locational information in guides. Next to that is this a pretty dynamic mod.... locations have changed multiple times already.

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If you are worried about spam when the server barely holds ~10 peak players lately, then I don't know what to say. It might be easier to allow for all the players on the server to speak to one another. If spam happens then those players can be warned and subsequent violations would remove Universe Chatting privileges for them. I'm sure you can handle the huge influx of all of 20 players that ever play online lately. You want community but you don't want people to talk to one another despite having all the modding tools available to handle it very easily. If this were another mod with hundreds of players online at a time then I could understand how much of a burden it might be.

regular Server peak = +20 players
which renders Crossfire one of the 3 most active servers of the past 12 months (I clearly can live with that)
I actually dont understand your point here.
Above you complain about a few banners which occasionally appear but here you demand the full dose of unconcealable player talk. That makes no sense.
Universe chat is for special purposes.... it always was that way and also will remain that way.
You already can user direct player chat, system chat and group chat with everyone who wants to listen. Thats what these chats were made for... the universe chat was made for something else. I already explained that.
Maybe I should tell 10 players to spam you for 2-3 hours... then you can see if that is better than the announcement banners.

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And I guess the typical response that I should expect from all this is 'if you don't like it then leave'.
If the people here want me to leave MP for good then I'll do so, but I hope it doesn't need to be that way as I'd enjoy playing alongside others once I rank up.
Telling anyone to leave or shut up or whatever will only leave emptier servers and a stagnant experience for everyone.
CrossFire has nowhere near the number of players of a certain other mod and every new player is even more valuable than people realize.

I know exactly ONE mod that has higher player numbers... ONE.
Nobody has told you to leave but you have to accept that we (mostly I) decide how to run the mod, the server and the community.
This mod and this server has survived and always kept a top position pretty much everywhere while all around is other servers closed, other mods died and other FL communities were shut down.
To be here after such a long time proved that we do things right.

we had previews?

There are links to pictures stored on img853.imageshack.us ... could be this site (part) is off-line. @Huor have you stored these pics locally?

Need to look for it. Cursors and particle colors are in the launcher available.

Hello,
I have a local copy of that page in mht file with all images included - it is attached below.

- Wanderer -