07-15-2023, 09:14 PM
I agree with mostly everything /index.php?/profile/21873-aphelionlc/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="21873" href="/index.php?/profile/21873-aphelionlc/" rel="">@AphelionLC said here and I will respond to your questions from my perspective as well.
I understand that there are ways to get around legal battles when it comes to hosting your server, you can play cat and mouse. However you can't do that when you have your real name attached to it when they can directly come to you yourself. I'm not sure what lawyer you have talked to that has convinced you this is not a concern but you are sadly mistaken. Copyright laws are very strict and we have seen countless examples of why. If you were to ever realize your dream of creating successful marketing to the point where it overshadowed official LC, you would be painting a giant target on your back with neon lights. They would quite frankly have no choice but to pursue you legally to defend their copyright. You would be leaving them no choice. And guess who gives no shits about your cat and mouse games when it comes to shutting down your content at the drop of a DMCA notice? Google, Facebook, Twitch, etc. all the methods that you would use to advertise would drop your content immediately upon a letter from the copyright holder and you cannot change that no matter who your lawyer is.
Ignoring all the legal ramifications, I really just have to ask you how into the MMO scene are you? Do you follow it regularly? Are you familiar with what is popular right now? LC is clunky, old and decrepit when it comes to comparing it to anything nearly modern. It is built on a 2004 Serious Sam engine with minimal work done to improve it at its core. If you are to strip it down it would LC be fun for a new player? The answer is .... no. 100% cast is nearly demanded by players and they are used to it. It removes any balance and absolutely drains any fun out of the game when you're just holding F1 to spam your skill. This is also true when it comes to core LC items like HP/MP stealers which quite literally do not nor would they every exist in another MMO because they are also balance nightmares. But I can imagine the enraged community if you ever took them out. There's several examples of just simple things in LC that go against a balanced game approach. The game was milked dry for years by the developers and priority was always put on the next P2W mechanic and after so long, it shows.
No server has ever been balanced enough to hold any actual mainstream appeal just because it's impossible. You can be "balanced" for LC, but LC itself will never be a balanced game without stripping it of its entire identity with the current playerbase, which is suicide and exactly why I say your appeal to new players would be at the cost of your current ones. It just...doesn't work sadly.
I could continue more and more, also revamping the story sounds cool and all but its quite literally a waste of time, resources and effort. Today's MMO player just clicks through story text. Unless you want to also bloat the game and budget with voice acting (this is a joke) then no one is ever going to pay attention or care about your story. Most players click through WoW's story and only watch the cutscenes. No one is going to read a Last Chaos quest about why you're going to Egeha.
Can someone make a really good LC private server? Potentially. However I really need to stress on the points that /index.php?/profile/21873-aphelionlc/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="21873" href="/index.php?/profile/21873-aphelionlc/" rel="">@AphelionLC made regarding how the players are. I have now been a part of 4-5 servers now since starting as a GM in 2009. I have dealt with players for years, I know players who I banned from Eternia 8 years ago who now make their own servers. The population is the same, it just keeps getting smaller. New blood doesn't really happen so you have to focus on who you have now. However the current player base just does not lend itself well to a server. It expects an unhealthy life style.
What /index.php?/profile/20534-veni/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="20534" href="/index.php?/profile/20534-veni/" rel="">@Venisaid about it not being life changing money is more applied towards big staff teams that would be needed to fulfill the requirements of a big server. If you are sharing your money with 2-3 people, sure the amount is decent but you have to really question yourself after a certain point. I have been there working 16-18 hour days like you /index.php?/profile/21873-aphelionlc/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="21873" href="/index.php?/profile/21873-aphelionlc/" rel="">@AphelionLC and I have done it for over a decade now. I have received substantial and life changing amounts of money from LC. It has paid for my school, it has paid for rent, it has paid for a car, it has paid for so many things in my life. However the work was backbreaking(mentally) and rarely rewarding in the end besides the money. All things come to an end, and sadly LC servers do so fast. While AphelionLC may be successful in outlasting a majority of servers now, it does have an end date most likely as everyone else has. And its very likely that that ending will be entirely unfair and due to something stupid from the LC community.
You see, the current playerbase simply does not care that you were up for 16 hours fixing an error report, they wanted new content yesterday. You didn't ban their enemy who is totally hacking because they got killed by them. You never do enough. LC is a game where you are actively harmed by trying to keep your server fair and banning bad actors. The game is made up of cliques, cliques of large sizes that will and do leave at the drop of a hat. If you lose even one of them for any perceived sleight against them, your server can very very quickly start unraveling.
I'm ranting a bit now, but my point of this all is this: The current community does not reward your hard work and dedication besides monetarily. I have watched years of my work fall apart due to an idiot who bought cheat programs and got banned. I have watched my multiple 12-14 hour work days go to waste on servers because a new server has opened to catch player attention. My story in this is not unique, this has happened to many private server owners. So when people question why some of them don't do "enough" I just laugh, because why would I want to spend another 18 hour day when the players are like this.
LC as it is just isn't sustainable for a healthy work/life balance, and if you made it that way you would need enough staff members that the money would no longer be a rewarding aspect of it. Which is often the only thing you are left with when Joker's 20th edition server releases and players go join it.