How to make people play foundries

chocobofarmer · October 2013

Create 50 new item skins, and every week allow one map to be selected to have an item with a unique skin, so that people have to play the foundry to earn the skin. This will encourage people to make maps and play maps. Allow the map creator to select from a list of skins and allow him to name the item.

aaronjf · October 2013

Imo, doing foundries was about as fun as clearing a dungeons trash w/o killing the boss and getting any loot out of it..

boomba66 · October 2013

Campaign: Harper's
Idea: Boon's granted for completing different types of foundry quests.
How it Works: Start with a contest to design a Harper Stronghold. Once a victor is chosen you then allow the quests to all be accepted at the Harper Starting area. By completing 500 Minutes of Foundry quests(that would be the equivalent of boons in the shand campaign) earn a harpers reward. Have it be a +2 to the stat for the type of harper's Boon the Player was striving for.
How to Encourage Multiple Quests get plays: Put each quest on a seven day timer.
For a Second boon add +250 minutes until all 6 stats are effected.(So 500 Min, 750 Min, 1000 Min)
This allows for longer campaigns and quests to be reward able and keep the farm maps to a minimum.

Rewards: Add in harper Coins for unique skins, colors, mounts and a companion.

Bam suddenly Cryptic has endless content, people have reasons to grind, good authors like Mr.THeboozer have reason to keep making epic maps.

rezlez · October 2013

Or, I don't know, mention to people that Foundries level you faster than everything else - even dungeons?

Because they do.

I've quadruple checked.

boudiccia · October 2013

Yes, leveling by foundry is extremely fast. Too fast perhaps. Foundry should really drop more blue items.

Rezlez check your forum inbox.

nearlydiamond · October 2013

rezlez wrote: »

Or, I don't know, mention to people that Foundries level you faster than everything else - even dungeons?

Because they do.

I've quadruple checked.

It's a good start, but I think the OP is on the right track. Foundry content needs an avenue to link in with character progression as well as for RP. That means allowing boss fights, scripting and access o a unique loot cache which I think should be incorporating viable T2/3 alternative gear, high end crafting things and titles, skins and cosmetic gear. Unfortunately I would imagine this to be extremely difficult to implement without leaving it wide open to exploitation

grimah · October 2013

blue items wont make people do them more.

What they need is to give people somethign to collect. Foundry tokens depending on length. 15-30 mins (3) 30-45 (6) 45+ (9) for example. Can only get them for playing them once (when it says accept (again) make it ineligable)

Turn in tokens for some cosmetics/transmutes/box. Could start of with 3 then add more to the vendor as time goes on.

leinahtanwc · October 2013

They should just create an entire "Campaign" system around foundries - call it the tabletop campaign or something - have buffs like increased magic find which upgrades the quality of end chests and such.

nearlydiamond · October 2013

leinahtanwc wrote: »

They should just create an entire "Campaign" system around foundries - call it the tabletop campaign or something - have buffs like increased magic find which upgrades the quality of end chests and such.

Love this. Run 4 different foundries with your group and get a 24 hour buff to upgrade DD loot bonuses. Great idea.

xhrit · October 2013

rezlez wrote: »

Or, I don't know, mention to people that Foundries level you faster than everything else - even dungeons?

Because they do.

I've quadruple checked.

A) Leveling is a one time activity.

Characters already level extremely fast.

feuygar · October 2013

I know the title was "making" them play, but despite feeling a touch sad how few people have played my foundry adventure, I don't agree that players should feel forced to play them - they need to want to play them.

By giving players a buff, they will feel compelled to play a foundry or two before they do end-game content to make that a bit easier/increase their success chances. So our adventures become a means to an end rather then being the "end" in themselves.

If the majority (which doesn't include me) are simply playing the game for T2 equipment, and (guessing here) say getting one piece takes 10 hours play, then it would be simple enough to translate that into say collect points from playing 20 hours of different foundries = one piece of T2 equipment.
This way, playing foundries becomes an alternative progression route, rather than "I have to do foundry because my buff is wearing off".

This would enrich the game by giving players more options at end-game. We all know that lack of end-game is what drives players away in the long-term.

422 - Yeenoghu's Bride

NW-DUMTEJ9KZ

http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?411131-Proud-to-present-for-reviews-422-Yeenoghu-s-Bride

kithlis · October 2013

feuygar wrote: »

So our adventures become a means to an end rather then being the "end" in themselves.

An insightful point, but short of removing all rewards from the foundry, there will always be some contingent of player that does them solely for the reward and ignores the content. Even adding tokens or gear progression is just again making our quests into a means.

We would all love it if our quest was an end. That people would play just for the experience of the story/gameplay that we have crafted through the foundry, but sadly this does not seem to be likely in the medium we have chosen to tell our stories in.

This, of course, brings us back to being a means for some (if not a majority) of players. That is - implement better rewards.
Short of having a system where only "approved" (featured?) foundries permit rewards, I don't know a great way to do this while also eliminating (or at least curbing) exploits.

I think everyone can agree that foundries with better rewards would be a fine thing.... but maybe the next question we need to start brainstorming about is this: how can a reward-based foundry system avoid the inevitable wave of exploit quests?

destinyknight · October 2013

Yeah the token thing sounds good.

But should make it so you get tokens for playing different foundry. Otherwise people will just play the same farming foundry over and over again.

I'd be well inclined to play mostly foundry. Adding this will make Neverwinter a much better place and will give people things to do.

It would be just the same as the people that farm and only play dungeons. Give people the option of playing foundaries and being worth it.

derpdedo · October 2013

Mabey a fresh plate of cookies at the zone in will attract them...

artaxdarkmane · October 2013

Here is my take on it and it would be easy enough to implement. Since what a Foundry quest lacks is the gear and treasure found in a normal quest then just make it up at the end. Create a separate "Super Chest" object for placement at the end of Foundry Quests. Upon completion of a foundry quest the reward would be significantly increased based on what you could find during an average quest.

What I suggest is:
4 green, or a blue or purple item
1 x the contents of a skill node
1 x the contents of one chest
1 silver piece per character level, or 50 raw astral diamonds per character level

This will partially compensate a character for the treasure they would have had on a regular quest, and give a few reasons to play the foundry quests to begin with.

These rewards would only be available for approved foundry quests.

raphaeldisanto · October 2013

How to "make" people play foundry quests?

Surgically remove that stupid piece of human nature that makes people reward-driven and replace it with something that drives people to do fun things for the sake of doing them, with no thought of any material (or virtual) reward, or lack thereof, except for the fun of the activity itself.

gurugeorge · October 2013

raphaeldisanto wrote: »

How to "make" people play foundry quests?

Surgically remove that stupid piece of human nature that makes people reward-driven and replace it with something that drives people to do fun things for the sake of doing them, with no thought of any material (or virtual) reward, or lack thereof, except for the fun of the activity itself.

I think rather that MMOs need to attract different kinds of players than just Achievers again. Because of subs, MMO design was skewed towards attracting people who would be easily addicted to hamster-wheels. Even now that subs are a thing of the past, that design mentality is still on autopilot in devs' minds I think (exceptions that are moving in a different direction being things like GW2 and the forthcoming Wildstar - and actually the Foundry itself is a step in the right direction too, but it's embedded in a game that otherwise holds little attraction for the kinds of players MMOs have lost over the years).

Another way of saying this: there was a time when MMORPGs were virtual worlds to have virtual adventures in, in a social way. They are now collections of hamster wheels, with a sterile social atmosphere and only a vestigial sense of virtual world. I think Foundry quests should be placed at random in the game world and organized according to type (e.g. monster type in a certain zone where there are those kinds of monsters, lore type in certain zones, etc., etc.), so that they attract Explorer type players, who'd be more likely to enjoy stories for what they are. But I think that would probably require a more fundamental re-design. But I think that would be the way to make UGC count. To have "farming" type Foundry quests and the like available through one means (interface), convenient for Achievers to do their hamster wheel things with, and to have more story-oriented Foundry quests more integrated into the world (job boards - but job boards pertaining to locale - and found quests (items on the ground, etc.)).

Of course this would work even better in a larger-scale virtual world (something on the scale of Vanguard's Telon). Something like the Foundry combined with a full-scale virtual world would offer fantastic scope for makers, and take a fair bit of pressure off devs. They should also be monetized a bit, to incentivize good Foundry design.

But other than that, re. what can feasibly be done, I think give it a bit more time. This game is still new, and Cryptic are still feeling out how to handle UGC. I'm sure they're very well aware of the Foundry's problems - after all, they put it in both to offer a venue for makers, but from their own point of view, to take some of the pressure of themselves, to keep coming up with new content, so there's an incentive for Cryptic to work on it.

zahinder · October 2013

Make it way easier to find missions you like.

If the missions are on display in the basement with a broken bulb, it's not a huge surprise when people give up and just go after the top shiny stuff.

reiwulf · October 2013

Yeah, at least we need the "new" tab to be fixed so we don't get the same quests in all tabs...

boomba66 · October 2013

reiwulf wrote: »

Yeah, at least we need the "new" tab to be fixed so we don't get the same quests in all tabs...

1. That needs to be done badly.

2. As for the rest, the truth is foundrys would get many more plays in if they had more character class options and build options. People would be bored to no end leveling over and over in the same core zones that Cryptic has provided. Say you suddenly add Warlock, Ranger and 5 new Prestige tree's you will see many more foundry's get played. I know many of the best Mod's in NWN2 got played as a way to try new character builds. You saw people play that game forever and NWN for that matter as well so they could try different builds and classes.

New Idea
How about a player driven campaign arc. Call it the Table Toppers Campaign, the Harpers Journeys, or something along those lines. Have a contest that would be the jumping in point to this second arc series. This foundry contest would be for a brand new first level character. Contest winner is the foundry that best introduces Neverwinter's foundry experience to the players. So instead of redoing the Neverwinter bridge selection there is a pop up screen that asks new player what story line they wish to follow.

Then as the progression moves forward you have a list of suggested foundry mods for level.
1-6 Introduction Foundry Contest Winner.
6-14 Have foundry's suggested that are fighting orc;s kobolds and the standard lower level fair. Like "Silver Sword" which deals with Goblins, and Terror in the Fog which deals with zombies.(Just examples of stories I feel would fit the level range well)

You have the themed foundrys follow the progression much as they would if they went zone hoping. Akin to Black Lake, Tower district and so forth.

Allow the same progression to happen with regards to companions and mounts as well. Even add drops in of Unique foundry companions and mounts. This alone would triple the amount of plays foundry's currently receive.

In the end by introducing foundrys at the log in screen and having a secondary campaign to the main campaign you have essentially doubled your content for the game. Here is my list of Foundry's I think would deserve a spot in the Campaign.

The Harper's Call Campaign
Clash of Wills
Silver Sword
Tuum
Bonderleaf's Through Agitator
Cursed Armor of Steele
Don't Tread on Me
Nature of the Beast
RavenLoft Campaign
Return to the Underdark Campaign
Danger in the....Campaign
Tears of Selune Campaign
Tower District Travails
"And Justice For All." Campaign(Have to shamelessly plug my own five

)
City in Conflict Campaign

And those are just some of the ones that stuck out to be as great fun modules, off the top of my head at work. There is more then enough fantastic foundry content now to add an additional campaign path for leveling alts and try to make a over arching story in between. Like say mine every ten levels lol

. Anyway just some random ideas.

chocobofarmer · November 2013

Well in my opinion all of you are on the wrong track, and I think many of you didn't read read what I wrote correctly. If you think there can be an exploit to what I'm suggesting, read again, I said foundries that are SELECTED by Mr Cryptic. And to those whining about reward, the reward I'm talking about is simply cosmetic items, and you're so uptight about people not wanting to do foundries for white amulets in chests that you won't consider how better rewards might make foundries more enjoyable for everyone? I'm not surprised. The foundries I played are as bereft of imagination as the posts I see on this thread.

zahinder · November 2013

Make it far easier to find stuff people will like, like Amazon suggestions.

'Hey, this group of people tend to like these authors and missions.'

When finding fun missions is like 'find the jewel in the sewage treatment facility filled with spring traps. And bears. Hungry bears.', it doesn't take too long before people give up painfully searching for stuff that doesn't stink, and just fall back on basic farm stuff.

kithlis · November 2013

*nothing to see here... posted in wrong thread >.<

mleger · November 2013

add featured foundry quests to the level up progression automatically

better loot reward

have the 'foundry' hour show up more often

Cleaning up the foundry quests to make it easier to find quests

removal 'farming' quests

just a few suggestions i have.

How to make people play foundries

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