The issue of the storyline is very important if this game to even exist in the coming months. But in its current condition I fear it will not be enough to hold the people together.
The video and the books are nice, on the day of the patch i rush home to find out the lastest news. Its a lot of fun, but the problem is the times in between are empty.
I see the storyline at the moment like watching the news, I take in the information in, understand whats is going on in the world and yet I feel so far removed from it. Its like the storyline is happing on another planet from Rubi-Ki and I am just watching it.
So little of the world of Rubi-Ki changes there feels no need to break from the routine of doing missions or hunting as a group. When you get to a certain level you get the feel of being stuck in some horror ground hog day.
The events need to more than just once every two weeks, if that at the moment. So I am left with not even bothering to login unless something changes. If I dont login I am not being part of the game, I am not adding myself to the richness of the game the same is true for all the other people as well.
The solution to this is driven by the way the storyline unfolds, its all outside the game enviroment, the videos, the story even the news items nothing appears inside the game to even support most of the events. It would be nice to see some form of newspaper in game, a TV sation with Max headroom style coverage of the events would be even better. But in the end why cant we see the events in realtime if we happen to be there.
I dont feel a part of the story, I dont expect to be a main char in the story or have any role. But I should feel the world around me is changing that the events should have some effect on me even if it is just a change in my thinking.
The thinking aspect is very important, any game needs to feel a challenge to the player that they are on some road to sucess in a form. A game needs to give the player goals to reach and for the player to feel theres some rewards for reaching those levels. There so much you could do to create those goals for people but at the moment they are lacking. This is very true as I understand it for the high level players who have little if anything to do now.
Kirrana