OK, balancing isn't over, and won't be for a couple of months. But ultimatley, in the not too distant future, the Balancing Project will be over (hopefully actual balancing tweaks will continue endlessly, but the grand project will come to an end with a reasonably level playing field).

And so the question is what next. We know KK have Black Prophecy to worry about and all, but its promised that NC won't be abandoned.



A lot of talk has focused on the ideas of resureccting the old 2.2, the one with new player models and such. This idea has some valididty. Neocron looks somewhat dated, and apperance of their avatar is an important factor to many MMO players. More meaningfully, the addition of more mob models and skins that make it feel like you are actually fighting a different mob as you crawl through the levels, rather than a renamed version of the same one - this will fit into the point I later discuss. But it doesn't really make NC a game that you will want to spend any more time playing, or more people want to play.

No, what we need with our shiney new balanced game is something to do with it. A predictable demand would be "more content", but really, thats not the next step. We should be seeing a content patch every 2 months or so just to keep people intersted anyhow. It neednt be anything grand each time like the Regant's lab. Just a couple more quests, maybe an extra zone occasionally, a new vehicle once in a while, etc. To be fair, the events team seem to be getting busy at the moment - if they can keep that up, it will help people stay around.

SO what is this "something to do" then. What is it that we all want that is going to keep us playing?
Neocron "2.3" should focus on Systems Revamps
What do I mean? Well, this came to me while trawling through citycoms for some pointless mission. We need stuff like that to actually do its job! Very Had missions to genuinley be very hard. Clan missions actually ingame. A mission system that lets us actually find a goodamn mission without 10 minutes of searching. And why stop at the PvE. OP wars that actually work, without relying on the generosity and sportsmanship of the involved parties. An SL and symp system that actually means something. StockX that is comprehensible to the average player. A faction system with meaning. More robust clans with real clan wars. We overhaul these things, and together with a balanced combat and class system, then Neocron truley can be an awesome game that nothing else can match. A stand-out-from-the-crowd worldbeater, despite the bugs and glitches and dated apperance.

Examples to demonstrate just what I'm on about and "how I would do it"(tm) likley to follow and some more sensible time of day.