Hi, hello, is this thing on? alrighty then.

A bit of an update regarding things as we've not been here and updated in a while. Currently going through some mop up and restructuring of the alliance to go forward. Still focus on what we provide, a free, fun, explorative environment for folks to enjoy the game. Just over time we've slowly back-logged a bit of inactivity and decided to clean that up finally.

We also had the Halloween fashion content which went quite well, had a few entries and folks did a fantastic job there. Tried out a new public voting system and it seemed to go down quite well.

As always, looking forward to hearing from you all.

Heyo,

I'll just dip in here to source something useful from one of my previous discussions on this matter from Eric. https://forum.pso2.com/topic/6141/managing-an-alliance-is-a-nightmare-a-leader-s-pov/25?page=2 this is just in regards to those looking to run alliances.

But anyhow, I honestly feel activity tracking is... interesting as there's not too much to work with in tracking it considering the last online is just blank. I'm actually putting forward a plan with mine shortly to try and recover the increase in inactive players over time. Honestly recruitment is like a day job. I generally find the activity is focused on a small number of larger alliances particularly outside ship 2. Generally, the two things to look for are pn names which most likely indicate a inactive player if longer term. The other is simply, just be open and honest about it, if you know who's who, and they're not about in-game for a while, let them know you need to focus your members on those playing but they're welcome to interact and return if they retake interest in the game, this at least leaves them the open door.

I'm not into enforcing activity posting from members personally as I believe they should enjoy it at their leisure. Just some thoughts though.

@Miraglyth said in Old AC pack collection coming this week!!!!:

@Nerzarn said in Old AC pack collection coming this week!!!!:

there's no fun scratch accompanying this

Nor was there going to be. FUN scratches always last either 1 or 2 weeks. The one we've got right now happens to be one that lasts 2 weeks, ending on the 28th.

Whopes! I totally forgot that's bi-weekly. Might be alright then. Please disregard that likelihood of a dual scratch. Though the new AC is a week long so i'd still keep tabs on it.

Considering recent changes in the way these scratches are presented, the fact there's no fun scratch accompanying this, leaves me to believe this might not be the "only" scratch we're getting this week for ac. We'll see.

@Scerms77 said in Bots:

@Nerzarn said in Bots:

Not to completely counter the premium block idea, but you do realise these bots generally have shop access right as they do sell some of their goods on the market to sell the meseta later, normally from stolen cards. So it's not like buying premium on stolen cards wouldn't be out the question for them. The general base issue is that as long as there's a main gathering point, it's going to be very easy for them to do their business. Which is sadly the lobbies. I do think new genesis with the more open looking maps may counter this in it's own way similar to how other MMO's have mitigated most of the problem by encouraging players to spread out.

Absolutely right. But they have only a few premium accounts for selling. The majority is just some generic f2p account to spam the Lobbys all day long. They get banned and just do a new account with "fgdhgfdh" name and spam on. Premium accounts wouldnt be renewed at the same number as it happens atm. They would bite their own arse if their premium seller account gets banned every month.

Edit: and after all, if us,the players,wouldnt buy from them,the problem would soon be gone...thats the initial Problem of it all.

Yeah... the joys of impatience and people with money to burn on meseta directly. The same impatience that generally fuels game hacks. If there's chance to be lazy people will take it. Really does a number on the whole ordeal so really leaves you with cutting off the desire early or the visibility of it.

Either way. I do think providing a private venue which provides reason for players to avoid contact works, but at the same time there needs to be a way to encourage others to join through invitation, at least until we're more open world without putting it behind a paywall.

Not to completely counter the premium block idea, but you do realise these bots generally have shop access right as they do sell some of their goods on the market to sell the meseta later, normally from stolen cards. So it's not like buying premium on stolen cards wouldn't be out the question for them. The general base issue is that as long as there's a main gathering point, it's going to be very easy for them to do their business. Which is sadly the lobbies. I do think new genesis with the more open looking maps may counter this in it's own way similar to how other MMO's have mitigated most of the problem by encouraging players to spread out.

I think the thing with PSO2 as someone who's streamed a touch of it. Is the content isn't quite as interesting to watch as other MMO's. A lot of the more popular stuff tends to either be PvP/eSports or Raiding content, of which the first is definitely plausible PSO2 twitch content however PVP being as easy as it is to Stream Snipe due to the small playerbase isn't ideal but for PVE unless it's the solo barren blossom, or phaleg fight I can't imagine a lot of what would bring viewers. PSO2 isn't bad for chill and chat streams though if you've got a decent viewership as the game as a whole is pretty relaxing.

I'd love to see re-runs of older Fresh finds personally in these secondary weeks. I'm actually beginning to run into the opposite of where I've got SG sat around I want to use, and honestly some of the pre-pc stuff I'd love to get my hands on. Namely examples such as the pure maid or Lorette Beldia especially considering the second is relevant to current events. It is what it is though as I imagine the larger market is those that miss the current getting another chance 2 weeks later.

@ZarexWolf said in The player store being down is pretty huge:

@Nerzarn I do, but I haven't had anyone use my friend avatar at all since day one of my time playing. So, it came off as odd I guess?

No worries. Not sure but yeah check out https://www.reddit.com/r/PSO2/comments/i6u269/how_to_turn_off_the_friend_request_after_every/ seems to be a thing. So can't be 100% sure on this one.

@ZarexWolf said in The player store being down is pretty huge:

@MarshalTobias32 Hm, maybe it was a test or something? I just found it odd I got 3 of them in a couple seconds while I was playing a story quest.

This might not be bots as a guess from research since I've had a few too, you use friend avatar or have at some point? Apparently you get requests from players who use them as they have the option to friend the player. If not then my bad as it might be in your case. I checked the ID's of a few on my end some longer players in alliances I know folks in.

As for the store it sucks, but anything to deter duplication. I'll be enjoying when the market does come up and the AC stuff gets priced all over the place.