[Feedback] What do you want to see from TF?

    So I'm trying something a little bit different, because I'm sorta getting fed up of everyone constantly being pissed off at something, and I'm hoping having more of a discussion thread to talk about what people want to see longer term might be beneficial for everyone involved.

    For me, there are some key "End goals" but how we get there, I am very keen to hear from the community.

    1) TF needs to increase it's player base, right now we have such a small in game number of players that the server itself isn't really "Sustainable". We need to have more active players on the network in one format or another.

    2) The server needs to remain "Free to play" and none of this pay to win bullshit.

    3) We have limited numbers of developers, so things that involve lots of customizing of code / similar may not be so practical. That's not to say we can't do it, but things like new plugins / changes to config are probably easier than having to write modifications to plugins.

    It's an open conversation, and I'd appreciate folks feedback, because to date I've got a LOT of mixed messages from the community, and I really need you all to come together and have some level of agreement in terms of what you want to see.

    Wild1145

    Network Owner at TotalFreedom

    Managing Director at ATLAS Media Group Ltd.

    Founder & Owner at MastodonApp.UK

    id love to have more low development events
    simple stuff like spleef
    during the guild party we had a week or so agothe player count was like almost 20, showing that even 0 dev work player organized events can boost player count a ton

    2021-09-26_17.01.50.png

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    ↩  enchy id love to have more low development events
    simple stuff like spleef

    i have a plan to make spleef and build battles more frequent with dedicated hosts whilst slightly more complex events are on the back burner

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    ↩  enchy during the guild party we had a week or so agothe player count was like almost 20, showing that even 0 dev work player organized events can boost player count a ton

    how the fuck does a guild party work?

    assrix, assryx, asterisk, *

    awesomeist tf blokey

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    ↩  ThePyroManActualAccount small bunch

    key point. small bunch. this thread is to get the playerbase large.

    SMP imo just isn't viable. It'll die within weeks. It needs to be fresh and unique and most importantly bring in & retain new players; not old ones. i imagine you guys were able to play properly because you knew each other and such, which can't be said for new people.

    I wouldn't be against SMP if we had some fresh takes (e.g. finding a way to introduce the freedom aspect into it, perhaps)

    52-CEF3-CF-C4-FF-4798-8469-4-BDCA5-D35247.jpg

    I will also say, this doesn't have to be "Freedom Orientated". My view personally was to diversify into other custom / bespoke gamemodes because the Freedom gamemode feels like a pretty difficult sell when most PC's nower days are powerful enough to stand up a little server for you and your friends to go destroy stuff.

    Wild1145

    Network Owner at TotalFreedom

    Managing Director at ATLAS Media Group Ltd.

    Founder & Owner at MastodonApp.UK

    We need an anarchy skyblock where you have your island and you can build to other people’s islands and kill them. So you’d be working on your own island and expanding it while venturing out and killing other people on their islands.

    ↩ @'_97' If you can provide specific commands / things that we should be looking to do that would be appreciated. That's just too vague for me to do anything with...

    And FWIW OP's can drop items, it's just globally rate limited iirc.

    Wild1145

    Network Owner at TotalFreedom

    Managing Director at ATLAS Media Group Ltd.

    Founder & Owner at MastodonApp.UK

    A few spring to mind. Most of them are for the sake of maintainability.

    • Focus on resolving technical issues before even thinking of adding features.
      The backlog is filled to the brim with suggestions to add cosmetic features which has made development overwhelming and results in less issues being fixed. **We should focus more on resolving technical issues in the server before even thinking of adding new features**.

    • Remove the TotalFreedomMod's Discord implementation and replace it with a bridge for DiscordSRV.
      DiscordSRV is harder to break, easier to maintain, easier to work with, and also not an absolute rat's nest unlike the current Discord implementation in the TotalFreedomMod. In addition, DiscordSRV is much more customizable, allowing us to change how things are formatted and handled. Finally, DiscordSRV is more widely supported and used across other servers, which means issues with the plugin are more likely to be reported than they would be with the hackish implementation we have now.

    • Use forum software that isn't a nightmare to maintain like Flarum.
      Due to Flarum's modular design (which does have some benefits), maintaining and updating it is very annoying. In addition, its permissions system is a nightmare to work with. According to StevenNL2000, Ryan has refused to add more plugins to the forum to reduce the complexity of the updating process. While the WoltLab concept was a good first step, I believe we could look into something more cost effective if necessary.

    • Remove the free-op system and replace it with a permission nodes-based system.
      A lot of the technical issues this server experiences are due to our operator-based system, which has proven over and over again to not be viable for providing the best freedom experience. If we were to move to permission nodes instead, a lot of permissions-related issues (such as WorldEdit not working for new players, /near not working at all, some commands being blocked due to a portion of them being hazardous, etc) would be resolved. The overall experience on the server would be pretty much the same (with many issues being resolved in addition), however under the hood things would be quite different, but still much easier to work with.

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    ↩  videogamesm12 Focus on resolving technical issues before even thinking of adding features.
    The backlog is filled to the brim with suggestions to add cosmetic features which has made development overwhelming and results in less issues being fixed. We should focus more on resolving technical issues in the server before even thinking of adding new features.

    More actual detail on this would be useful... The backlog is prioritises per release regularly, but if stuff isn't being reported or issues not being raised, there's limited things we can do...

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    ↩  videogamesm12 Remove the TotalFreedomMod's Discord implementation and replace it with a bridge for DiscordSRV.
    DiscordSRV is harder to break, easier to maintain, easier to work with, and also not an absolute rat's nest unlike the current Discord implementation in the TotalFreedomMod. In addition, DiscordSRV is much more customizable, allowing us to change how things are formatted and handled. In addition, DiscordSRV is more widely supported and used across other servers, which means issues with the plugin are more likely to be reported than they would be with the hackish implementation we have now.

    This currently isn't possible due to the custom TFM admin chat... It's part of the reason we have other tickets to handle changes to how we do permissions in game.

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    ↩  videogamesm12 Use forum software that isn't a nightmare to maintain like Flarum.
    Due to Flarum's modular design (which does have some benefits), maintaining and updating it is very annoying. In addition, its permissions system is a nightmare to work with. According to StevenNL2000, Ryan has refused to add more plugins to the forum to reduce the complexity of the updating process. While the WoltLab concept was a good first step, I believe we could look into something more cost effective if necessary.

    The move off of Flarum had to be de-scoped because we haven't got a large enough active player base to justify the substantial effort that goes into moving off of Flarum. The woltlab cost wasn't the issue, it's the amount of my time and other peoples time it would take, which I feel is better spent at the current time trying to grow an active community... Right now we're stuck on Flarum because it's what we're already using.

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    ↩  videogamesm12 Remove the free-op system and replace it with a permission nodes-based system.
    A lot of the technical issues this server experiences are due to our operator-based system, which has proven over and over again to not be viable for providing the best freedom experience. If we were to move to permission nodes instead, a lot of permissions-related issues (such as WorldEdit not working for new players, /near not working at all, some commands being blocked due to a portion of them being hazardous, etc) would be resolved. The overall experience on the server would be pretty much the same (with many issues being resolved in addition), however under the hood things would be quite different.

    This would be a pretty significant change, and would be something worthy of a dedicated thread (Think there might be one you / someone suggested before). TF has differentiated itself by giving "Real OP" since it's existence, The work to move Plots, Admin world and Master Builder world out of Freedom-01 was going to start this journey, but I'm not sure that's something that I can just approve without basically 100% of the community agreeing to go with it because it does move us out of being "FreeOP"

    Wild1145

    Network Owner at TotalFreedom

    Managing Director at ATLAS Media Group Ltd.

    Founder & Owner at MastodonApp.UK

    ↩  RedEastWood I'm not sure spreading our already low player base even thinner is going to help given how upset everyone was at the original idea of expanding into new gamemodes...

    Wild1145

    Network Owner at TotalFreedom

    Managing Director at ATLAS Media Group Ltd.

    Founder & Owner at MastodonApp.UK

    ↩ @'Ryan' tf is based around freedom, why not keep that in other gamemodes? red had a suggestion for an anarchy skyblock and thats something where you can inject freedom into a preexisting gamemode (normal skyblock) and create a new gamemode
    although having a special freedom take on gamemodes would probably take lots of dev time to figure out so im not sure how viable it would be

    2021-09-26_17.01.50.png

    ↩  enchy Because people generally don't care about the Freedom type gamemodes anymore...

    We planned to do an Anarchy Gamemode, but that's not the same as a Freedom Gamemode...

    I'm just saying people need to remember there are other options, and that Anarchy and Freedom are two VERY different gamemodes...

    Wild1145

    Network Owner at TotalFreedom

    Managing Director at ATLAS Media Group Ltd.

    Founder & Owner at MastodonApp.UK

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    ↩ @'Ryan' More actual detail on this would be useful... The backlog is prioritises per release regularly, but if stuff isn't being reported or issues not being raised, there's limited things we can do...

    I'm aware - this was more of a suggestion towards the community itself but it works both ways.

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    ↩ @'Ryan' This currently isn't possible due to the custom TFM admin chat... It's part of the reason we have other tickets to handle changes to how we do permissions in game.

    Actually, it is very possible. DiscordSRV supports adding additional channels to its configuration. We can then modify the TotalFreedomMod's admin chat system to call a custom Bukkit event (to which a DiscordSRV bridge would then catch and forward the message) with the appropriate details. The bonus we'd get from this implementation is that in the future we would be able to hook into the admin chat events and create bridges for other services (not limited to just Discord) with very little development effort required.

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    ↩  Zarcana fixing /near,

    It's already being worked on. Currently assigned to @"Paldiu"#89 on our selected to be done list.

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    ↩  Zarcana and if possible, guild rp events

    More info on what you have in mind for this?

    Wild1145

    Network Owner at TotalFreedom

    Managing Director at ATLAS Media Group Ltd.

    Founder & Owner at MastodonApp.UK

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    ↩  videogamesm12 Actually, it is very possible. DiscordSRV supports adding additional channels to its configuration. We can then modify the TotalFreedomMod's admin chat system to call a custom Bukkit event (to which a DiscordSRV bridge would then catch and forward the message) with the appropriate details. The bonus we'd get from this implementation is that in the future we would be able to hook into the admin chat events and create bridges for other services (not limited to just Discord) with very little development effort required.

    It would be wasted development effort is my point... We have tickets to hook into NM for group management, once we do that we can switch away from TFM's bespoke admin chat and to NM's staff chat, and make use of their bot to manage all of this across the bungee.

    This feels like a lot of development effort for very little gain...?

    Wild1145

    Network Owner at TotalFreedom

    Managing Director at ATLAS Media Group Ltd.

    Founder & Owner at MastodonApp.UK