Everyone knows me at this point and is aware of my stance on the OCD but this post isn’t about hashing out our hate for each other and I hope that we can get beyond that in order to get into some actual discussion on the topic. All that being said the reason why I bring up the topic now is because twice now @RexXxuS has brought us new content, once in the form of a suggestive leak of upcoming content and once, just today, as the bunny hunt that had an impact on the OCD whether perceived or real and twice he was assaulted for it.
I’ll start with a few points that we all know but conveniently deem irrelevant:
Rex created the OCD
Rex has stated that all things can be changed or modified
This is an alpha game
Next some points that are often argued relating to the OCD
Rex has stated the OCD is “safe”
People will leave if he touches the OCD
People have paid for the OCD
My personal version of the OCD would be what many of you would call a minimal OCD which would function as a season jumpstarter in order to allow server veterans to still be rewarded for being loyal to the server while not being towering gods when compared to new players or those that have only been around for a season or two. It’s already a huge gap between those that are in a large faction/alliance without the OCD, OAM, and other HWS server perks but once those are all added in and the full extent of those that gap is much wider. That being said Rex runs the server the way he wants and he has a different visions than I do so if he wants that gap to be 100 times the size of the Grand Canyon then he can do as he pleases and I will make do.
To respond to the common arguments about why Rex “can’t change his own content”
Yes, in the current implementation of the OCD Rex’s definition states that the OCD is safe. New technology or adaptation of alien/Zirax technology can lead to development of tech capable of hacking the OCD/OAM or other devices that were previously thought safe. So while current definititions state one thing future definitions can state something else and it is the designer’s(Rex and Jascha) right to make changes as they go.
I agree, some people will leave. Many from the current big factions and alliances will likely leave, but more will join the server as well, many more. There’s no other server like HWS, no other server has the OCD, OAM, or some of the other features and Rex does a great job of contiuing to try and create new content despite people constantly telling him they’ll leave if he does.
You could have got it for free. You didn’t pay for the ore in it, and if you did you could have got that for free as well. Anything you chose to pay for you paid for because you wanted to skip the grind to get there. Many people paid for it sure, I didn’t because I wanted to see how long it actually took to get there. It doesn’t take long. I think it took about a week to get to OCD 4 and that is plenty for a solo player. I have 70 slots with 7k in each slot. It would take a ton of grinding to fill that up. If I go PvP at all I won’t have any materials to fill that up because all my materials will go into making ammo to try and penetrate the armor(though slightly less so will the block limits in place).
So here’s the actual problem with the OCD, people on the server have decided that it is off limits for Rex to do anything with the content that he initially created in the first place. I’m not saying it’s ok for him to say that it’s ok to give someone permission to go wipe you out even over the course of a season(hacking) or that it’s ok to cut in half the number of OCD slots/capacity. I’m only saying that there should be some room in your minds for changes to the content that was created initially as a way to allow players to carry over gear from one season to the next.
This is a rant sure but I’m also curious, what changes would you, the community, be willing to accept to your OCD?
Changing the capacity in any way?
Any risk at all to the contents? Just loss to depressurization? Theft?
I did not get OCD for material storage. I got it to store Alien Cores (OCD 5 required) and gold bars to carry over to next season (OCD 6 required). I PvP quite a lot and get enough from OAMs that make the material cost of PvP acceptable. Without OAMs PvP would be too expensive and not worth the mining grind. OCD needs to be safe because of the top level items stored there like Alien Cores, gold ingots, and Autominer Cores. OCD does not need to be safe to protect common ingots and such. The appeal to me of HWS is the value that gold has that makes it worth fighting for and creates meaningful PvP. Gold has value because of OAM, OCD, and garage ships. In stock EGS we never mine gold as it is useless.
TLDR: The combined enhabcements on HWS add up to make PvP enjoyable and worthwhile. OCDs are a large part of that feature.
PS: OCD capacity could be lowered for all I care. I just want my valuables safe.
I too agree with what Grizzly said and mentioned it before as well. Imagine being the person who donates actually money for an alien core or 2 (or?) and proceeds to store it in his or her OCD. Then it gets hacked and they lose those cores. Losing ingots is not such a big deal but storing more higher tier items like gold and cores should be somewhat protected.
So I understand the gist of your concern for the OCD is that it creates a gap between the new player and the veteran?
As I started to learn about the HWS features, what I noticed is that some are Seasonal (Banking Levels) and some are Permanent (OAMs & OCDs). What I think is amazing about a permanent feature is that it is a promise that if I keep playing into next season I will continue to get the benefit of my investment - which is REALLY GREAT for new players because there is a large group of veterans coming back each season to help new players, add them to their clans, teach them how to build and probably most importantly to flood the economy with their gold and goods.
BTW I don’t have ocd 6 even though I mined gold for the last half of last season I still couldn’t afford it so I will continue playing for many reasons including buying OCD6 if possible. I want to reiterate that giving veterans reasons to keep coming back to the game (instead of getting bored and losing interest) is very important to keep the server alive and to set a standard/example for new players.
All that a new player really has to do to cross the “gap” you refer to is to be available for some multiplay, show an interest, shop around for a faction or an alliance. I don’t disagree with you that there is a gap, but I think that because a veteran can bank his goods in an OCD he doesn’t hesitate to keep building, PVEing, PVPing and supporting the new guys on his team with his acquired wealth.
Finally I think if you can EARN the perk of reducing/eliminating the grind - that is a great thing to work toward. How many seasons will the average player stay around if they spend most of their time grinding - each season?
So let me ask you a question or two? Did I understand your main complaint about OCDs? (creates a gap between new and veteran players) Do you have some examples of where you think the current OCDs are reducing your gaming experience or perhaps new players gaming experiences?
Personally I think the OCD was a stroke of genius. It was a way that Rex introduced for people to choose what they want to carry over to the next season instead of always having to pay real money for resource packs and the like. It doesn’t detract from gameplay in any way.
My issue is rather with the way no one approves of any suggested changes involving the OCD and gets so easily upset when anything happens in relation to the OCD. It was April fools and Easter and Rex tried to take advantage with a joke. The reaction was kinda unsettling to watch, not for all but for the same group that is always upset regarding OCD related chatter.
@Quasar, honestly your feedback was extremely helpful and I was hoping for more like it. I wish more people would respond in kind but the trend I see more often is to turn down new concepts even if they were requested by other members of the community. If this continues as the trend we’re not likely to see new content on the server, people quickly forget that it was this type of creativity that brought us the OCD in the first place.
I appreciate you taking the time to respond and just want to touch on this one piece since it looks as if my topic won’t be getting much other traffic. This is really not something I wanted to focus on since I don’t disagree with this statement in the slightest. I believe that if you want to be competitive in something you need to be willing to adapt, learn, and take advantage of whatever tools are available to you. On HWS that essentially requires joining a decent sized alliance, investing in your OCD and OAM, contributing in some way to that alliance, and participating in their PvP or PvE related activities.
All that being said it shouldn’t be required to play that way in order to be competitive, yet because of the OCD, OAM, and other server benefits if you are new it basically is. I personally don’t have a single problem with this but can understand those that might and try to sympathize with as many people as I can. I will at the same time tell someone that blatantly chooses not to use the OCD/OAM/etc. and then complain about the gap that it’s their own fault and to stop complaining.
This isn’t my server so there’s no point in me trying to spell out exactly how I’d treat the numbers on the OCD and such I only mentioned that to point out that I see things differently than Rex does but I respect that it’s his server and wants to do things differently than I personally want. Something I hope that in the future everyone on the server will be willing to do, extend him the courtesy to at least have reasonable discussions about changes being made to features that he added in the first place.
I am a fairly new player. I started in last season. I also play solo. My OCD was built up by putting all my aquired gold into raising it’s level. My OAM was a donation. I can tell you right now, I don’t really have much purpose in the mining grind for anything other then to get me to OCD 6. At that point, I will be replacing every slot with gold until I can have OCD 7. Being able to get resources in a pvp zone is crucial to being able to truly use that OCD for base building.
Come 8.0 we will need to build bases on pvp planets rather then spawn them from a blue print. If active pvp is going on a solo player won’t be able to do that without the highest level of OCD. Just too easy to die before you get a base even started.
So, as you can tell. All the other items have zero value for a person starting out because they don’t make me competitive against large factions or long time veterans. And I like that fact that there is something for them after a few seasons of work.
With each reset, I I feel like I am honestly working toward improving my net worth.
Thank you for the different perspective! I for one have been tackling it from a completely different approach in trying to prepare for everything without any out of pocket expense. I see you decided to go in with the OAM donator package which I’m sure Rex appreciates as it helps to keep the server paid for and running.
It really comes down to style of play but yes if your sole purpose is to dive right into PvP at the earliest opportunity then maxing out the OAMs(at least Erestrum, Iron, Copper, Promethium, and Blue Crystal) needs to be a top priority so you don’t have to spend countless hours grinding out that ore instead of actually duking it out. This is where my arguments are coming from though, I haven’t yet been able to grind out enough gold to max out the OAMs for those resources and have been trying to play from a “new player” mindset. So far I have:
Attained OCD 4
Attained OAM 10 Sathium(Can’t remember why I thought this was needed first I guess combat steel)
Attained OAM 10 Blue Crystal
Attained OAM 10 Erestrum
Attained OAM 10 Neodymium(Another misstep)
Attained OAM 6 Zascosium
In hindsight, I would have done several things differently but I was trying to play as blind as possible and have been learning about the server from playing rather than reading or asking questions. I thought maybe POIs were important for getting into PvP faster but they really aren’t, at least not the PvE POIs I’ve been running through. Running through the starter planet POI once or twice and then leaving the planet(if running solo) is enough to get you a couple rare weapons, but you can also purchase those in other ways and the POIs don’t seem to offer anything else.
Even after I get the OAMs to max one big fight like the scale at which the big factions fight and all the resources I’ve been collecting for days will be gone. Such is the way of PvP though, you spend forever collecting what you need and then it is all gone in the blink of an eye when you have to utilize it to fight off the opposition. Large factions are appealing because you have people to share that burden with.
I’m also a fairly new player. I started in early Jan 2018. My thought on what comes first, OAMs or OCDs is OAMs because you can increase your wealth by the gold you get and you can use your other ores to build an infrastructure to continue building your wealth and empire.
That is a great perk for sure to use OCD in PVP. I lived on golden globe last season and none of my faction mates had OCD 7. Even when we had to build by hand we found ways to secure our building supplies without OCD 7. I think the greatest perk of using OCD 7 in PVP is storing your loot while on PVP, so even if you die you loot doesn’t. Both OCD 6 & 7 are very expensive, esp OCD 7 but I respect anyone who can attain it - that is a lot of grinding no matter how you describe it.
I completely agree and think this is a big draw to come back each season instead of having to start over with nothing and repeat last seasons grind.
So what I would recommend to anyone figuring out OAMs for the first time is MAX OUT YOUR GOLD FIRST. Blue Crystal and Promethium are up there because you need them to travel (plus I’m Freelancer and I always need a stack of Refined Pentaxid for RP). Why do you feel like maxing out your neo was a misstep?
Actually doing the larger classic POIs ie Abandoned Mine is important early on because getting heavy armor and a cargo box full of boosts is essential in both PVP and the higher end custom POIs (you now need EVAs and insulation boosts to be in space for longer than 10 seconds) and of course having the armor boosts is great for combat PVP and PVE. And you should stack armor as much as you can because they wear out easily even after a few repairs.
I didn’t find this to be true on Golden Globe. I was able to collect ore fast enough to keep up with the ship building and base building needs and had enough left over to help out newer players. Also remember if you are even in a small faction then you can create a faction cargo box or two for everyone to contribute so the faction itself has resources in addition to your personal resources. I think my biggest learning curve was HOW to be prepared for PVE and PVP, not a lack of resources and opportunity for resources.
@Alandauron do you know about The Resource Hunt solo mission? Press F1 and find it under Solo Missions. You can obtain a large amount of resources including gold and this might help you get your OAMs maxed out and start building your OCD as well.
This is the essence of it! The OCD is like your savegame, unlike everywhere else in Empyrion you do not lose everything with a reset, you just consolidate and take inventory of what is useful.
And that is also why almost nobody likes making the OCD unsafe, nonody likes it when others mess with their savegames.
HWS is rich with options. Going big, as in faction and alliances is not required to enjoy game on hws. There are many, single player factions who are quite successful as such.
Gaining experience playing in faction/alliances, building up ocd is good way to gain confidence and build resources to try playing as single member faction.
Regarding ocd - a major feature to encourage long term game play, and in itself – nice game play objective to work towards leveling and filling.
Just want to encourage caution on what changes are proposed/implemented. Everything I’ve read to date – causes a nerf in some way.
Tougher is to imagine changes that enhance or buff gameplay in meaningful way that’s not op.
But putting that aside, I dont think I see whatever huge crisis you are imagining. The people who have alot in their OCD dont have it their because it poofed into existence one day. They have materials and supplies because they spent the time to learn the game, mine what they need, and get good economical infrastructure. Or blew up enough people and took theirs. Take away everything in everyone’s OCD, and you will still be getting wrecked by these same people because that hasn’t changed. It wont split up large factions, It wont make them magically unable to mine and sustain themselves, it will only piss off the people who stick around because of the feeling of continuity that the OCD gives.
I wish I had access to some statistics here to drive it home, but lets just say I am quite sure that the VAST majority of people wind up with more in their OCD at the end of a season than at the beginning. Know why this is? Because they are storing more than they use on a regular basis, for a rainy day. If anyone knows of some counter examples please feel free to correct me, but this has been my observation thus far.
So in answer to your question, I wouldnt change a thing. Besides potentially greater granularity, adding in more levels of use, or a license to use it in a specific system, etc… Removing items wholesale achieves nothing but angst. This has been the case the last 20 or so times someone new to the server asks to have all the OCD’s wiped. Its understandable, but its also not gonna happen.
Just the order in which I maxed out my OAMs and the rate at which I have been working on my OCD I feel has been done incorrectly. I thought I would want the “safe” storage of the OCD first but I should have held off on that until after getting my OAMs and the order of getting my OAMs should have been different. Once again, that’s hindsight. Once I get all max OAMs it no longer matters it’s just a factor of keeping them fueled in priority order.
In regards to the POIs I had forgotten about the boosts, it was rather late when I posted, those are important now in Empyrion.
I have seen these but iirc they are in PvP zones and I haven’t exactly crafted a PvP capable vessel yet, working on my own design, so have been catious about going into PvP areas so far. I also have only been playing in short bursts as I have family to take care of and while I may be in the game for long periods I’m not always able to focus on the game for long periods lol. I do need to get around to this, also need to get around to the other PvE content that I haven’t had the time to get to yet. So much more to explore in HWS, only so much time to actually play though.
Lol, nice use of exaggeration, never said anything about a huge crisis. I merely wanted to bring up the fact that many people don’t want to accept any changes at all to the OCD.
Who is getting wrecked? Once again, nice use of exaggeration you angry about something? This is exactly the type of reaction I’m referring to.
I never asked to have the OCDs wiped nor will I ever want them completely wiped, everyone on the server worked hard for what they achieved. If at some point Rex decides that he wants to wipe the OCDs because he feels that the game has reached a point where he wants a clean start, though, I will respect that. I will also respect if rex wants to change the OCD in a way to make it more interesting, such as allowing hacking, as long as there are restrictions in place to prevent someone from being completely wiped out(even over the course of a season). All I want is for everyone to remove this unrealistic expectation that OCDs are completely untouchable because it’s going to prevent it from becoming an even more interesting feature in the long run.
The reason for this is because the OCD was made so overly powerful from the onset and that was in order to allow people to carry over allot of resources. Now there’s no reason to make it any larger or stronger so the suggested changes are to make it more interesting from a risk/reward perspective. Sure there are those that just want to troll and take away things from those that worked hard to get to where they are, but most just want new and enjoyable features. I know that’s the angle that Rex is approaching this from and as a content creator myself it’s really hard to watch the harsh backlash he’s getting for trying to create new and creative systems for his community.
Discuss the issues with him and be open to changes and the proper way to implement them, be honest but not harsh. Help him come up with limitations that don’t hamper the creativity but do prevent the abuse and you’ll continue to see unique new features on this server. The other option is contiue the backlash that I’ve seen and eventually he’ll give up trying to do new and creative things and the s l begin to stagnate.
Opening up the OCD to hacking would do far more harm to the player base on this server than good. One of the most attractive draws of the HWS servers are the most player retention, and that retention is what makes the player base ask the questions such as “Do I want to donate for x package or no?”.
As soon as you start dipping into some of the OCD of the veterans here you might as well kiss the long time player base good bye, along with the years of experience of HWS evolution since its early inception and whatever future donations lost. In the short term it will be an all easy new server with new factions rising to dominate, but within a few months all the features won’t be enough to keep retention or dedication of the vanguard of before. Once you lose that player base it’s difficult get them back or build new numbers. You need an example? Look at early season 6.x
What about other things that are recoverable, you are alerted when they happen, maybe it’s PvE related content maybe it’s events, maybe its an Origin perk that can be used once per season. I mean I can imagine all sorts of fun that can be triggered from this. But alas it has been deemed untouchable.
There is a good point that is made, “People will just move all their stuff from the OCD to PvE storage and then back to OCD at end of season to avoid risk, just adds extra work.”
This is true, but I do truly appreciate all those that have contributed to the discussion in all ways. I want all perspectives on this topic. I understand the desire to have no risk for your precious valuables. If the OCD doesn’t represent that safe place then you’ll just store them where they are 100% safe.
EDIT: The Easter event could have been a bigger event with lots of fun where each individual had to track down a group of hackers/thieves and recover the contents of their OCD. Immediately there were tickets being filed and people complaining that it wasn’t a fun event and was just tedious. I for one wish that I could have been involved in the great bunny hunt on the NA server but it sounds like Rex got quickly frustrated with those online on the NA server and decided to cut it off early and just tell them where the bunny was. Hopefully he doesn’t give up as he said he intends to and we see more events like this in the future.
The only thing here that is the most valuable of all, is time. I started back during version 3/4.x and everything that I have accumulated since then has been stored in OCD in one form or another. We are talking about countless hours of mining (and I’m talking about a the T1 hand drill, there was no T2, no HV/CV drills either), grinding, looting of POIs and other player bases, etc. All this has taken considerable amounts of time. All that time is stored in what is billed as a doomsday vault.
Now the concept of the OCD is open to all to pilfer. Within a few hours a new player can join and access the contents of my OCD. My finite time is now at another persons whim, utterly worthless. Hours and hours of my successes are wasted due to an inherent flaw in the vault.
How many people would be willing to risk all their time they spent? How many decide to fold and spend their time elsewhere? How many just quit entirely? Is that a risk you are willing to take?
