kb2zuz

I'm not the most active member but I've been around for a couple Revs now. I do understand the frustration of the player fall off and the desire to rev more quickly for that and at the same time I see the value in longer revs and the lifecycle of them. That said I feel spliting to Fast Rev and Slow Rev is a horrible idea as it splits the base and would only reduce the number of players (even if people did split time they'd have less time on each server). A few random thoughts that might be useful, most are based on having some way to draw people in when things slow down. Map expansion: Build a large map but start it restricted smaller than usual (2000x2000?). After a few months expand the boarders, but don't expand them out equally from spawn. Do so in one direction so it's more of a feeling that there's new undiscovered country in that direction. Then in a few months expand again (could be in the same direction or the opposite, but the point is give one large chunk of new land instead of smaller strips around the edges). Having an expansion announced ahead of time (or on a regular schedule) could draw in people who want to see something new. Secrets/hidden gems: Rev 11 went on forever. I remember (and my memory could be a bit flakey) but a few months in I feel participation had dropped and many regulars were not around often, and then thrawn posted teaser screen caps of a creeper spawner (that had not been found). People started looking for a week and no one found anything, so then she posted another screen of a rail line teasing that we were so close but had just missed it. For the next hours there were a bunch of us riding rails where ever we thought it might be, trying to find the area that matched to the screen shot. Finally it was found (I forget who was the hero) and we had an all night grinder building party. After that there were regular fireworks and other things. Secrets hidden in the map that we don't know about and find out about either by someone stumbling on them or by hints from admins if necessary can drum up some serious interest. Similarly the 5K and the secrets around spawn also helped kept things interested in Rev 11. Things could also be added part way through the rev. Those are my feelings, but the beauty of the server is that there are so many different walks of life and different opinions. What I may like might not be what someone else does and the server has done well to accommodate many different types of players.

Every map has it's own advantages disadvantages. That said, my favorite has been Rev 11's terrain. It also had the right mix of ocean area that was close enough to spawn. It had a lot of surprises (those mountain forests!) and such, and the walled mountains along the edge seemed right. I'm certain that took tons of work to make, and on larger maps it would be even more difficult. Perhaps a map could be generated and interested parties could be given a section to terraform, then the pieces put back together. If maps are going to be as large as the current, I feel more portals would be highly advantageous. If the map is going to start at 4k or 5k and later expand to 6k or 8k, perhaps have additional areas for portals in the expanded area. Smaller maps keep things interesting partly because you can get around and see them. if an area is a 20 minutes from any portal, I'm probably going to miss out.