Hello everybody, as you have probably been made aware by the title, I am going to take the time today to give my input into what I believe the server needs in order to draw back old players and gain new ones. The information I am going to produce in this 'letter' (if you will) has been sourced from my own in game experiences as well as recent discord discussions involving current and active players as well as management and development staff.
The first issue that I feel I should comment on is the recent comparison between Olympus and Straya, specifically the guns portion of it. One thing people need to understand is that straya is.. or at least WAS a unique altis life server. It had it's own set of rules and regulations that differed it from the likes of Olympus and even direct competitors like darkside. Straya was straya because it gave players the opportunity to use bigger and better weaponry but at the same time made said weaponry relatively hard to obtain. Anybody who says that it's not fun to use a navid and spray people down like Johnny Sins standing in front of Madison Ivy is lying. Obviously being obliterated by a 9.3mm LMG is not fun, but it gives dedicated players the incentive to put in effort and grind to obtain the same weaponry so that they aren't humiliated again. Also, it's unfortunate but Straya just isn't capable of competing with Olympus.. period. The US servers have so many more players which makes it nearly impossible to get similar numbers. That's why instead of trying to copy Olympus' style, straya should try to become unique again by adding those weapons back in.
The second issue I would like to touch on is the fact that legal runs (rather than illegal runs) are now more profitable for both rebels and civilians. Yes, gems do give players a reason to get on and grind for many hours and yes that does increase population. But it's ****ing boring. Nobody actually wants to sit there for hours clicking windows key to get a bit of fake currency just to go to the same old fight at capture points. Nobody. Instead, people want diversity. There is always going to be a meta, and people will quickly learn what that meta is and start to follow it. However, the current meta needs to change and I will tell you why. Fun. That's the reason. People want to have fun, and I hate to break it to you but not many people are having fun at the moment. Having gang fights at illegal dealer was fun. Yes, uranium was the most overused run for REBELS because rebels were the only people who could afford the risk of doing a uranium run. That's how it should be. Civilians should not be able to make as much money as rebels, plain and simple. Just like in the real world Jimmy from down the street isn't making as much money as Pablo Escobar, but at the same time Jimmy isn't risking death or arrest. This idea may be referred to as being 'unfair' or 'biased' against civs but it's important to understand the definition of civilian in regards to Altis Life. Civs are those people who don't wish to part take in gang or rebel activities but at the same time don't wish to be apart of the EMS or APD. Why on earth does somebody who fits that description need more money than a rebel who needs to purchase equipment and gear as a means of survival. Think about it.
Next, I want to talk about the economy. As I tried to explain in that last paragraph, uranium and drug runs should be a rebel or cartel members highest source of income. It should be the activity that dedicated and active players attempt to complete in order to attain large amounts of money. The only issue with this is the exact amount of money that can be made from each run. I am not sure exactly how the economy stands at the moment because I am just coming back from a much needed 'vacation' but I will say that Uranium in it's prime was way too easy. I don't have stats but it was the only run that people were doing because it was the best run BY FAR. I personally believe that Uranium should be the best and most profitable run, but it should also be the highest risk run. A high risk, high reward system is essential in creating a balanced economy. Uranium should be the highest risk but also the highest reward, followed by drug runs and then obviously gem runs for civilians. Besides pricing, nothing needs to change. Uranium can be sold at illegal dealer which is a KOS zone and therefore numbers and firepower is needed to secure each run, drugs must be processed and then sold which can be camped at all times by anybody and then gem runs will be the same as drug runs but obviously it will be less likely that somebody is camping those because most if not all rebels (ie the people who would usually camp) will be camping the higher profit runs like illegal and drug dealer. Maybe discuss prices with the community team, as far as I'm aware the community team has a good understanding of the server and can assist in getting prices right.
Those are the main issues I see at the moment. The content is there, capture points ARE fun fights but all we need is a bit of diversity. Illegal dealer can bring that diversity. If you don't agree with what I am saying please comment and let me know, if you do then please like this post and hopefully management will see it. Thanks for reading and have a great day.