Official Improvements Thread v.5

[xTwoTails]

Have an in-game clock that displays the Server Time (Alaplaya's time)

It can be handy when doing a single-day events.

[KanesAssasin]

Another thing I've noticed that really bothers me is the lack of a game timer when looking at games in the channel lobby. I've had multiple instances of joining a room that only has 1-2 minutes left, which results in little exp or pen gain for me, and can be frustrating if it results in a "auto loss". Why not add a timer, or at least go back to putting what half the game is in, that could be shown when you right click for room details. It's a small thing, but it would help a lot for players who want to join a room but want to know what stage the game is in. Simply having "Playing" does not cut it.

Also, can we allow more then 1 person in a practice room? There are a lot of clans that would like to train out of a normal game, and used to do so in friendly matches. Understandably that was removed due to farming, but in a practice room there isn't really any way to farm, considering you only get 44 PEN total. Leave it that way, but allow more then 1 person so clans can actually do some training without having to worry about reducing weapon times, skill times, kdrs, wins/losses, etc.

[juandi001]

Put some kind of option that shuts the whole chat, except for whispers.
This option should deactivate itself if you log out.

[RazgrizHenry]

Ok, I'm here with new ideas.

• Regarding Practice Rooms...

Spoiler: show

How about a practice room without sentries and being able to choose every map in the game? So people don't need to create jump rooms (that affects their stats now, without the option of the friendly room). That way they would not receive exp only for practicing... Also, being able to create this rooms up to 12/16 players would be great, I think, so people can practice either alone or with friends and make videos too... It'll be like a friendly room without exp or pen.

About the other idea...

Today I was playing with some friends at Old School, and, at the end of the match, some of them hid themselves inside the boxes when I said I was going to kill them, and then I had to go search for them to kill them. Then I thought: "Why not a Hide-and-seek-like Mode?"
Some people might say "It already exists, it's called Chaser Mode, noob!"
Well, I don't think Chaser is a Hide-and-seek, but a tag game... (People can't hide when they're targets...)

Ok, based on this classic childhood game, I thought on two modes (With random names by me):

• Classic Reaper Mode:

Spoiler: show

Well, in this one, someone is randomly picked as "it" at the start of the match. This one will be trapped in a box where he can't see anything else (like when you trap yourself in one of the Old School boxes). In the meanwhile, the other player have to find places to hide, like inside boxes, cars, etc, behind objects/walls and wherever their creativity let them. After a set amount of time, "it" is released from his box and he have to find and kill everyone else. The "it" will only receive 2p per kill. The killed players will drop metallic futuristic-like skulls, that the "it" need to get and take back to his spawn box (That'll be a coffin-like, cubic and metal thing) in order to get more 4p. He'll only be able to carry one at a time. Round's over when "it" retrieves all skulls or the time's over.

• Dual Reaper Mode:

Spoiler: show

In this one, players will be divided in two teams, like the other modes. Then, two players, one from each team, are randomly chosen as "it". Like in Classic mode, the 2 "it's" will spawn in 2 side-by-side boxes (Actually, it's only one box, but inside there's a "invisible wall" separating each other; this time, in the center of the map; they can see each other, because, you know, the wall will be invisible) while the others will have a limited time to hide. The other difference from Classic mode is that the maps are "mirrored", like the TD maps. In one side, will hide only alpha team; in the other, beta team. When time's over, the "it's" are released, each at one side of the map: the alpha team's "it" will be released at beta's side and vice-versa. Alpha team can't access Beta's side and vice-versa (again).

Once released, the "it's" have to find the rival team's players on a limited time. The first to find, kill and retrieve all of the enemy players' skulls will earn a point to his team. If the time is over before one of the "it's" retrieve every skull from the other team, then the point will go to the one that retrieved most skulls. If it's a tie, then the winner will be the one who killed more enemies. If it's still a tie, then no one scores.

If a team has less player(s) than the other, then I thought about two things:
• 1: In the team with greater number of players, XX Players will be randomly chosen to "sit" (e.g. if it's 5v3, then 2 players from the 5-members team will be chosen). They'll be spectators until the round is over, then, if the teams are not balanced, the number of players that equals the difference are randomly picked as spectators;
• Or 2: Every player plays normally, but, the "it's" only need to find the smaller number of enemy players (e.g. If it's a 5v3, both "it's" only need to find 2 players). I think this second option is a major no-no, since the team that has more players will have a disadvantage, because the opposing "it" will have more chances to find a player.

• Common Ideas for both modes:

Spoiler: show

It looks a little like chaser, right? Well, to make things different, there will be no virus that overpower the chosen player, he'll be a normal player. If he's HP goes down to 0, he'll be respawned after 3-5 seconds. Of course, the hiding players that are killed will not respawn. "It's" camera won't be darkened as in Chaser and he'll be able to view other players like on other modes. There will be no target, as the main goal of the game is to hide yourself

Optional idea: The "it" only needs to hit the other players with a single hit to kill them or has increased attack power.

Needless to say, Invisible and Detect skills and Mind Shock would be forbidden in both modes (At least with as limitation option, like Chaser's).

• Auto-sit System

Spoiler: show

And after thinking about the "auto-sit" system for the hide-and-seek mode, I started wondering "why not for every game mode?". Of course that, if implemented, this should be an optional feature that the master can turn on or off when creating a room. And of course that in Chaser, Arcade and Battle Royal modes this would be unnecessary... For TD, DM and Siege modes, instead of putting this by rounds, make the system randomly choose, after a set amount of time, a full-HP player (because it would be unfair if the system chooses a 001hp player that's ambushed by 3 enemies and put a 130hp player in his place) and that's not with the fumbi (can you imagine how people would rage if the ball-carrier get picked up by the system near the TD goal when there's no one near him?) or capturing a base. Captain mode can still be in rounds.

An in-game auto-balance system (with the option to turn it on or off) would be great, too...

• Regarding KanesAssasin idea...

Spoiler: show

Another thing I've noticed that really bothers me is the lack of a game timer when looking at games in the channel lobby. I've had multiple instances of joining a room that only has 1-2 minutes left, which results in little exp or pen gain for me, and can be frustrating if it results in a "auto loss". Why not add a timer, or at least go back to putting what half the game is in, that could be shown when you right click for room details. It's a small thing, but it would help a lot for players who want to join a room but want to know what stage the game is in. Simply having "Playing" does not cut it.

Nice Idea, I agree as I'm tired of entering in rooms that have only 2 minutes or less remaining. -_- I miss the old lobby that said in which half the match was. :/

• Also, AeroXZ...

Spoiler: show

2: Add some sort of penalty for leaving in the middle of the match. (Like reduced exp/pen rate for a set ammount of matches) or add some sort of boost,award for playing the matches till the end (Like increased exp/pen rate or pen/item awards from playing 10/50/100 matches till the end). Because atm in s4 there is a fashion of joining a game in the middle of the match and leaving in an instant if your team is losing , while staying if your team is winning. Its really annoying that way since it puts the losing team in a bad situation reducing the chances of actually giving a shot to turn the result the other way around.

3: It would be nicer if there was some sort of loyalty/attendance system. For example: Get a set amount of pen or an exp/pen boost for playing two or more matches the whole week. And get a better reward like timed equipment of your choice(one piece of equipment with ap stats for a week) for playing two whole matches for the whole month. That way there would be a possibility to track your progress during some sort of events(Like the previous attendance events that gave away permanent candy glasses) and of course it would also get the players to start looking forward to some events and/or playing s4 each day.

Well, I don't think No. 3 would be a good idea... I mean, I see your point, something to motivate players, but I think that something with AP stats wouldn't be good... You see, people would stop to pay for AP as they'll have another way to guarantee their ap items, though it's only for a few days and at a great lapse of time. Also, a bunch of fake AP-users would ruin the gameplay, in my opinion... But I agree with the pen/exp boost if played a certain amout of matches.

And about No. 2, there's already a penalty: in your player stats, you get 1 more loss added to the total and have a little (I mean, it's really little, like a 0,00001) damage dealt to you perm items. XD

I don't know if a serious penalty would be good, because many people quit a match when a hacker appears... Some stay because they don't want to lose their exp/pen or don't want to get the extra loss (when the hacker is just playing around, without scoring). Also, there are the dc cases. :/

I thought about the penalty be the loss of that pen/exp boost... But still, if that boost is little, people will not care about quitting in the middle of match; but, in the other hand, if the boost is great, a bunch of farmers would appear...

There's also the case in which people get out because his friend/clan is calling for them urgently in the other room, or their parents/brother/sister order/ask them to get out the computer...

For the bad players that get out when losing, the penalty you suggested is just fine, but there are players that don't care about exp or pen, and, like I stated, in some cases, they don't get out because they want, so it would be an unfair penalty.

Ok, I know! How about a charge to quit at the middle of a match? I mean, if someone wants to quit, he needs to pay, like, 2k PEN, or more. And this charge increases as he consecutively quits. I mean... I wanna quit a match, then I pay 2k, then I go to another room and see that my team is losing and want to quit again, but this time I'll need to pay 4k. The charge is reduced when I play an entire match (And for "entire" I mean "being 'ready' at the room since before the master started the match")

[DanteInfern]

Fix the 'whisper' system. For some reason (and maybe to other players as well) I can't whisper to people if they are not on my friend list.

Make the PM free to send. Why do we have to pay 10 PEN to leave a message? That is just ridiculous. It's just like fixing permanent weapons: it's just a little annoying thing.

[IXxXIKIDDDDDDDDD]

-------Wager Matches------

We should be able to make matches where players can "wager" an amount of pen.


Example: 6 players make a wager match,

MAX AMOUNT OF PEN IS 20k.

Alpha Team:

Player 1: Wagers 10k
Player 2: Wagers 5k
Player 3: Wagers 7k

Beta Team:
Player 1: Wagers 20k
Player 2: Wagers 15k
Player 3: Wagers 11k

The team who wins the match collects the pen from the player on the opposing side,
So therefore Player 1 on Alpha will collect Player 1s on Beta's 20k etc etc.

[RazgrizHenry]

"New" idea, this one's for alaplaya's moderators:

• A new anti-hack procedure:
Something like IP ban or something that blocks the player that was banned by hacking to access alaplaya's site, because just reporting them isn't enough, they just go ahead and create another account to hack more... And please, don't you guys come with a "there must be other good players that use the same comp" excuse. It's not my problem if they let the bad player hack. If it's in a family, they'll pay the price for their actions as a family (And if they are real good players and use the same comp as a hacker, it's their responsibility to keep their comp safe from hack tools and teach the black sheep not to hack). If it's in a cafe, it's even better, because those are places that hackers love to use to play S4, also, the number of laggers would decrease.

And yeah, I'm raging here because I'm sick of hackers! Come on, I love S4, it's one of the best games I ever played, but those periodic outbreaks of hackers are tiresome! I know that hackers will exist forever, it's not possible to eliminate them all, but If there are these constant numbers of hackers, it's because the system is not severe enough. It's time to do something effective about them, alaplaya!

And still wonder if any moderator will read this... Maybe I'll need to send a ticket? And if so, maybe you guys would really think about it instead of saying some ridiculous excuse?

And I have a question to the moderators: WTF is that thread saying about copyright infringement at the General Discussion? Do you guys ever sued anybody for that or that thread is just an attempt to scare hackers? Because if it is, it's not working, guys, hackers don't even come to the forums...

[RazgrizHenry]

Ok, a new idea... Again, about hackers, but this one has a great con.

You know, there are only hackers with rookie accounts. It's real rare to find a semi pro hacking, and I'm yet to find a hacker with pro rank...

So, instead of making channels like --using the Server 17 as example-- "Free 1 - Spanish, Free 2 - Spanish, Free - Portuguese, Free - All", make a "Pro 1 - Spanish, Pro - Portuguese" and etc. If players use the Pro channel, they would find less hackers.

And, with this, reporting would be really effective, because hackers'll need to level up again if they get banned, not only create a new account...

Of course, don't remove the free channels completely. Because if you want to play together with a low-level friend, you won't be able if there's no free channel.

Sadly, the hackers will probrably go to the begginer server and destroy the gameplay for the rookies and fake-rookies...

Well... sincerely, I can't think about some way to cover this. Maybe the hackers will stop hacking since there's no point in hacking begginers, but who knows...

Or this, or the severe punishment I already said on the other post.

[JiMsTeRs]

If more then one player whisper to me, i suddenly dont know who said what. i got a idea to stop that! if you make the players choose a color, and when they whisper to someone, what you say comes in that color. that will make whispering easyer

if you say that 5% of the money you get from selling ap goes to a good thing like proke kids in diffrent contryes i think more players wanna buy ap and if they first buy ap they will buy more. and it will give them more chance to get allowed to buy. (allowed from their parents) and you might get heros. think about it: make a nice server and donate some of what you gain on a good thing!

[Lolicatgirl]

Here's an idea, how about remove the function for spending pen directly on the fumbi and use coins instead. You know, the same ones used for the buff system and arcade mode that at the moment has little to no use. We would still get the 6 free coins a day and you could make coins purchasable by pen and AP. Maybe put the pen one on the same system as icaps where its a randomized amount. Because at the moment no one (that knows any better) uses the fumbi shop at the moment due to the odds being a lot worse than its predecessor. Only difference is force pack skins have been thrown into the mix. It would give people a reason to buy the coin charge items in the cash shop as well as making the fumbi shop look like less of a waste of time if we get 6 free tries every day.