HWS Donation rework part III

RexXxuS · January 31, 2017, 12:24am

this is the last part of our announcement series about the change of donations. It is the most important part so read it carefully please!

Prices update

As announced tomorrow 01.02.2017 we will change the donation prices to fit the actual work/time balance we have currently and taken the high cost of the servers into consideration.

Everything below will be active for 6.0! Not tomorrow!

NPC Trader

We hope this is the final and best direction for these smart traders. And yes, it was for me very disappointed and sad to see that from 5.0 till now they didn’t really got the attention they really deserved… it cost me hundreds of hours though to have them with 5.2 finally as I wanted and bring back the fate in them

Nevertheless a change / rework of them is needed so here we go:

3 theme packages now

1. Resource theme - price: 7k per slot

This is obviously just the resources you know of + Hydrogen!
5k per slot is a kind of average value but only pentaxid might be too low for that. The reason still behind it is that you first need pentaxid to visit the trader so it still keeps the balance.

2. Armament theme - price: 3k per slot

This can also be called “weapon & guns” theme. All you need to get prepared for war. Weapons (no epics still) and ammo.
3k for 25 artillery ammo? Yeah this is high but also cheap for big turrets you could sell. Also keep in mind the high value of artilleries in general.

3. Components theme - price: 17k per 100er slot

Yes we need a cap here. We saw lately more and more people want selling 999 emergency rations which takes somehow the fun away of either eleon marketplace or survival at all. Kind of “itemmenu” / creative mode which shouldn’t belong to this big journey.

Limits

Everyone can only have 4 NPC Trader per server
if the new saison starts, NPC Trader owner needs to send me a message if he wants to keep his NPC Trader alive or not. If I get no answer in this time the Trader might kept in the game but the money will go to the Elemental Bank!
the donation price is untouched
We have to think about the future, help reducing the confusion and implement for them the little but important note: this donation package is not forever. Eleon can implement their own NPC Trader, we might remove or change them!

Donation Planets

This is the biggest and hardest change.

3 planet types available

1. PvE restricted

If you want this type of planet you have to take following into consideration:

you can have now only 1 common resource type (+ meteorite of it) you wish on the planet (sathium is also common now) (max. ~50k deposit amount)
you will only have 1 (admin) POI (invincible) with infinite drone waves on the planet. It is just about infinite drones coming at you so you have a little loot but also take care of your structures on the planet. (this is optional, alternative is NO POI at all)
No taxes till you have 100 structures on the planet! As soon as you reach over 100 structures your planet will be taxed - for everyone on that planet! As soon as you fall under 100 structures the taxes are removed again.

2. PvP restricted

you can have now only 1 common resource type (+ meteorite of it) you wish on the planet (sathium is also common now) (max. ~50k deposit amount)
you will only have 1 (admin) POI (invincible) with infinite drone waves on the planet. It is just about infinite drones coming at you so you have a little loot but also take care of your structures on the planet
No taxes till you have 100 structures on the planet! As soon as you reach over 100 structures your planet will be taxed - for everyone on that planet! As soon as you fall under 100 structures the taxes are removed again.
the planet won’t count as real “PvP” to get the +7 RP bonus for free if you live there! Instead
you can use your OCD on this “PvP” planet

3. PvP / PvE unrestricted / PvPvE rotation planet

PvE: max. amount of structure are increased on the planet per player / faction

you can choose 3 common resources (max. ~50k deposit amount)

PvP: you can choose up to 9 common resources + pentaxid! (max. ~50k deposit amount)
PvPvE: you can choose 7 common resources you wish (max. ~50k deposit amount)

Remember:

you pick one planet type per saison. No change inbetween
you can create events on your planet in cooperation with us
you can create your own planet / playfield.yaml and send it to us. We check it and implement it then
gravity, water and planets is free of your choice in reasonable manners

Availability

First of all:
Everyone who supported us till now will keep his / her planet till the end of the year (31.12.2017) OR release of the Beta (whatever comes later) without any further costs but have to tell me what planet type he wants in 6.0 and if the planet should be active at all!

This is sadly needed no matter how much the hate for it is. Trust me that I never thought in first place that people will buy these planets so it was my mistake to claim them at the beginning “you keep them forever”.
Obviously, with the release of beta or full version this is just not realistic and I am sorry for that confusion. We have to make this decision for the future to actually keep the server running because we have a limited amount of room for the planets.

However! If the hate / frustration for some people is still too big, “losing” his / her planet after the year / with beta… I even offer for everyone who bought the planet for 300 Euro a 50% payment back because this was a big price push and not long time ago. Contact me for details! (now or never)
For the people who bought it for 170 Euro you already played long time on your planets and I count it as joy for you and acceptable usage
Never forget that your support was huge for us - motivating us to keep all the hard work and work non stop for you!

Now this means after all:

planets from 6.0 on will be available to donate per saison!
but since one saison can become in the future 6… 9… X month long we limit the max. time of a “saison” to ~~3 months~~ 2 months
after 2 months you say “keep or not”, donate again and nothing changes. If you had enough for this saison then just don’t donate and the planet will disappear from the orbit (but still with your structures “on it”. So before a full wipe you can reactivate it though - if room left
the price per saison is decreased from 300 to 99 Euro
there is one very hard edge case possible that after 3 month a full wipe has to happen because of a big patch / compatibility error. In this case 3 months can be exceeded to fit the time frame
there will be a little more room for donator planets in 6.0 available (not now / pre-orderable). To be announced soon.

New donation option - HWS Penthouse

With 6.0 we implement as a test a new donation option for 10 Euro - HWS Penthouses.

There will be two planets in the universe which are ONLY available to you after you donated this package. It is matched to your steamID, no faction griefers, no one else can enter, except the ones who donated one penthouse.

it is admin core on a PvE planet
50 penthouses on one planet available
one predefined resource type per planet - depends which planet you will choose
No POIs there
1 CV + 1 SV + 1 HV allowed to park near your penthouse
no additional bases allowed there
cargo box + constuctors etc safe there (amount currently not finalized)
house won’t be deleted
house cannot be edited or amended in any way
10 Euro per season

The idea is simple: live safe and without sorrows. Always have a little beautiful backup plan and resting area.

As I said - let’s see if you like it.

Question to the NA server!?

Guys at NA: the NA server once started as a “test” because we had one server just left over… more and more people joined over time and enjoyed playing there. More and more the “test” disappeared to a fully equal server and more… you sold out all donator planets with the limit of 10 and then with the limit of 14… incredible.

We opened the HWS EU PvE server and you might wonder what is with you?

So here is a question / decision for you:

Do you want also a PvE NA server OR do you want one of the biggest server machine you can imagine for the main HWS NA server?
It would be a server which cost 577 dollar per month but has almost the double better performance than the current machine which means less lag, less glitches / bugs because of this, etc.

In general

I will work on a redesign for the donation page, allowing more easy ways of inputs of you. Dropdown what server, dropdown what type / theme, etc.
totally random here but just for the announcement sake: I increased the WipeTime from 7 to 9 days to just give the two little days better buffer.

IMHO: please understand that not only the server cost is very high but the time we spent into the servers. It is honestly not for our living, all money goes to the server maintenance and we are just 3 people with full dedication and love bringing this project to you. None of us hosted a server before - we are completely greenhorns but as previous players it is just wonderful if we can establish fun and joy on HWS.

So all of this is the financial aspect which is sadly needed to keep all of this as you know it and improve it with the time. We don’t plan to shut HWS down and every donation / support of you is just incredible helpful and motivates us!
But again I started HWS without donations, with my own money and oh dear: NEVER thought it would run so well - my / our main intention, more important than the donation was and will be to give you all the best place to play this awesome game (which we can play soon again too )

Thank you all for making this possible!

Good night

RexXxuS
and his two great helpers
@Achilles & @Jascha

Blackvortex · January 31, 2017, 12:33am

haha you were rright thats a big post as for the NA question id say no PVE NA server, the EU PVE server is always dead from what ive seen when on connect or joinging the server so my vote would be one server, plus that should = less work load for you guys not have another server to run and maintain

Diamyo · January 31, 2017, 12:38am

One server seems good if you can balance out PvE areas for those who want it. The rotation we had in 5.X worked and was fun.

hopskotch · January 31, 2017, 12:40am

First - Applause!! I really like the direction you’re taking and think this is a good thing for the future. Bravo.

If anyone is upset about this and wants to take your offer for a refund, please contact me, i will defray your refund cost (and take their planet ).

I would love to see the NA server grow more massive – Bigger servers, bigger universe, bigger factions/origins – Like any fishtank, things get more stable in a bigger tank. A new PVE server would potentiall remove people from NA to go there, OR, cause you to spend money on another low pop server. my $0.02 contribution!

Say where and when and i’ll be camping out front starting a line with my other planet seekers

Take my money. Again, forming a line!

Thank YOU gentlemen! I thoroughly enjoy all the work you put into us, and this, and really appreciate your time and effort!!! Great work!!! Now to get this community in order.

Hops

Pumpula · January 31, 2017, 12:45am

Poll incoming?

dsmarine · January 31, 2017, 12:49am

+1 to Biggest server machine evar for NA server.

Vakharn · January 31, 2017, 1:03am

I would also vote for a more powerful server for the main HWS NA server. Lag is the primary problem with the game right now, and while the solution is largely going to be up to the devs to implement, having a more powerful server will probably help.

Urthor · January 31, 2017, 1:47am

Yeah please no PVE server, there’s just no need for any of that stuff. Euro server is near dead, stick with the one we’ve got.

Gunslinger · January 31, 2017, 1:55am

Hey @RexXxuS great work as normal. I for one will take up the back up home in the €10 planet. The NA question if I played on NA then bigger server. But what about the EU server which is running at 100% CPU most the time. What have you got planned for this? 2 days in a row several people have warped without the ship with disconnections. This is why I have not played much tonight. I don’t want to warp and lose my ship again. Achilles is aware of this as well. So again how will the CPU usage be resolved on EU?

Booyaah · January 31, 2017, 2:09am

Yeah I’m just curious what kind of server specs $600/month buys…we talking like 128 cores and 512 GB of RAM?

aernoud · January 31, 2017, 2:55am

I am not on the US server, but I would go for a bigger server. From a ‘business’ perspective… it makes more sense. Creating a larger environment is easier to manage than multiple and different environmenta. It also brings focus. Doing one thing / server type, realy well.

If anything, create a 'PvE corner on the server where players that don’t like PvP too much can live, or for new players/factions to stay untill they are strong enough to out to the rest of the server. But you can also choose for what we have today and players looking for PvE should find another server…

WillEatsPie · January 31, 2017, 2:57am

Great work as always thank you for putting you’re blood sweat and tears into this HWS team Rexxus and the other two who work behind the scenes. My vote is simple one server like Blackvortex said never seems to be anyone on the EU pve server and Rexxus said about how it would speed everything up which is a major MAJOR problem in what I would call the most fun part of the game. PVP thanks again for all you’re great work HWS. Keep it coming

Mordgier · January 31, 2017, 3:59am

I’m confused by this - so a rotation planet that is still restricted can have 3 commons? Am I reading that right?

Did you mean rotating to unrestricted?

NikolaTesla · January 31, 2017, 5:54am

Thanks Admins, that took into consideration my proposals

about long term perspective (till end of the year)
about 50% cash back
about new taxation rules, which can be useful for small factions

and many many thanks for penthouses, i like your “slicing pie” strategy, i think you have very good marketing skills
About penthouses

Can we have huge lake/sea there are, and one admin poi, like yacht-club ? And park there our boats, yachts, ships, submarines …
You mentioned 1 safe box ? Can we add boxes and constructors to this building with admin core ? Can we repaint ? Have a different style houses ? Add pool ?

And many thanks again, you are great !

A.F.T · January 31, 2017, 6:12am

Yes what about EU server? After adding the PVE EU server overall perfomance goes down. I see more lags after it. And when more that 100 players on server it is goes laggy. Tool not working properly, warp kick, eac kick and etc. The server machine cant handle with it i sens it .

AlexAKM · January 31, 2017, 8:06am

Cool idea, but as for me - better decision would be give people some piece of land, where they could build one BA witch they want. Than it would be n1. Other way - I get some paper-house with one Box for… For what? If I need some safe-holder - I need a lot of Boxes + Constructors. Not 1 Box =(

hopskotch · January 31, 2017, 8:35am

I live in Auxilio. Its fab. 2 whole small boxes there. And a const. Plenty for what i need it for and plenty of the other stuff i need elsewhere in deep space or neptune or… Just sayin, a tinyhouse aint all that bad once you’re in there. Its not meant to replace OCD after all.

hopskotch · January 31, 2017, 8:37am

Question @Jascha – Does the RP cost stay or did that go away with this update and the pricing?

AlexAKM · January 31, 2017, 8:38am

u gonna pay for it, 10 euro every session…

hopskotch · January 31, 2017, 8:40am

yeah, i read that part. I already donate to these guys because its good for all of us… so whats a 10?