route_29 | BRING US YOUR FEEDBACK!

FEEDBACK POST: YEAR THREE EDITION

Hey, Routers! Things have been pretty eventful for the game over the past few months, and we've seen a fair number of changes along the way — the introduction of EV News, the extra-detailed badge acceptances, the experiment with making the Gym Leaders more interactive for the playerbase, and a handful of big plots, including our recent Glitch Plot, Fourth Wall, and of course, the game's big three-year anniversary! But with all of that excitement finally reaching something of a lull for the moment, we on the modteam would really like to check in with you, the players, and get your feedback on how the game experience has been for you so far, and what you'd like to see out of us in the future.

Beneath the cut, we've got a fairly detailed survey we'd like to ask you to fill out, to let us know how we've been doing on a handful of topics, and to get your input on what new things we might attempt, modify, or outright change in the future! When filling it out, please feel free to be as specific or general as you like; we'd prefer specifics, as those tend to be more helpful to us as a team, but please don't feel bound to strictly answer every question if a more general answer will do. Likewise, if there's something you'd like to tell us that isn't covered with the survey, please feel free! This post is here for your thoughts and feedback on Route, and to open up channels of communication with us to answer questions and discuss what might be in store for the game from here on out.

Once you've filled out the survey, please also feel free to make subsequent comments to this post with other topics you might like to discuss with us or with your fellow members of the playerbase! However, please keep in mind that this is NOT an HMD post, nor will we be tolerating any bickering in the comments. It's fine to disagree, but please keep any disagreements civil and discussion-focused; we reserve the right to step in and halt discussion if we feel the conversation is no longer productive, or dissolving into an argument as opposed to a healthy debate.

Also, please keep in mind that while we value your opinions and want to take them into consideration as we move the game forward, we must also as moderators exercise our own personal judgment in determining what will be best for the game. Some suggestions, however popular among the playerbase, simply may not be feasible from a moderator standpoint — and if we do feel that way, we'll try to explain why, but ultimately this discussion comes with the caveat that not everyone is going to get what they want. So please be patient and understanding with us as we try to do our best for the game and for you!

Note: ANONYMOUS COMMENTING IS ENABLED! (For real this time!) We want to encourage honesty here, so please feel free to go anon if it makes you more comfortable. Just please don't abuse the privilege!

FILL OUT THIS FORM FOR US, PLEASE

A BRIEF GUIDE TO WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

PLOTS:
• How many plots have you been in Route for (approximately)? None? One? Several?
• How have you generally felt about our plots so far?
• Of the two listed, which type of plot do you tend to prefer?

-- An objective-based plot, where participants are given a specific action to react to and/or a goal to achieve, possibly with the outcome of the plot dependent on the players' actions
-- An effect/condition plot, where participants are given a setting change, scenario, or other character condition and generally left to their own devices with what to do about it

For previous Route examples, our Spring Cleaning plot from last year was an "objective-based" plot, while this year's Prom and Glitch events were "effect/condition" ones.

• What would your ideal plot do? For example, "bring all the characters together in one place" the way that Prom did; "give my character Pokemon powers" the way that Outbreak did; "let me move my character freely around the map" the way that the Glitch plot did, etc.

GENERAL UPKEEP:
• Do our infopages generally do their job of providing you with all the information you need on a daily basis? Is anything confusing? Is anything missing?
• Is there anything you think we're in need of updating?
• Is there anything you think we need to change?

MODS:
• How have your experiences been with us as mods? Are you generally happy with us as a modteam? What do we do well? What can we improve upon?
• Please also feel free to address feedback to any of us individually!

FUTURE:
• If you could change any one aspect of Route, what would it be and why?
• Is there anything within the setting of the game itself you would like to see implemented, changed or removed? (I.E. open up a new region, GIVE US THE ELITE FOUR ALREADY, etc.)
• Is there any plot in particular you would like to see us do in the future? Be as general or specific as you like!

ANYTHING ELSE:
• Please use this section to let us know anything else you feel is important!

We'll be doing our best to keep up with the discussion as it unfolds, but if you have a question or the need to get hold of us (or one of us specifically), feel free to use the PING-A-MOD thread included in the comments to flag us down!

Thanks again for all your input and cooperation, Route, and we're really looking forward to hearing from you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

PLOTS:
I've been in Route for several plots, specifically starting from the one with the legendary dogs running around last year. Unfortunately I play a character who usually isn't interested in getting involved with them, so my ability to participate is limited. Generally, however, I like "objective-based" plots where the characters can influence the outcome, and where the outcome has a noticeable and long-term effect on the game world. More specific to Route, plots that allow characters to meet new people and meet up in person would be good, since the size of the game world can make that challenging normally.

GENERAL UPKEEP:
The infopages in general are fine and communicate the basics, but they could be improved. The Price List page could do with the addition of Kanto info and a few other notes: stating that the Goldenrod Department Store items can be found in Celadon, inn prices for Kanto (and the Lake of Rage resort), the price of a train pass, getting rid of the two-year old "new items have arrived" notes, and general prettying up - it's kind of bland-looking compared to some of the other infopages.

The FAQ and Inquires page should probably, in my opinion, be merged, or at the very least have all the answered questions added to the FAQ somewhere if you want to keep the screened comments. They seem to do the same thing to some extent, and the answers given in both should be displayed more prominently to make the info easier to find, like the aforementioned train pass price.

The Berries & Apricorns page should probably include mentions of the additional berries available at the berry orchard in Pallet Town, and if their in-game effects still work here.

MODS:
You have a tendency to be slow responding to FAQ questions in particular - there's an unanswered one from last month right now, which isn't as rare as it probably should be. Generally though, from what I've seen you guys do a good job running the game.

FUTURE:
Some way to shrink the world so that randomly running into people outside of Goldenrod is easier. I don't think that the game can handle another region right now, or probably ever. Keeping it as a Johto/Kanto game forever would be fine by me. Since altering the world that much is probably not possible at this point, my biggest request would be just more info on the world - little details that could be the seed for a character making a post to comment on them. I am of course probably one of the few people who cares about what the plant life is like, what constellations there are, and common sayings and metaphors the inhabitants use, but that kind of stuff interests me when I'm looking at a world. I would like to see a loosening of Johto's no-weapons policy, but that's a game design decision and it's as unreasonable of me to ask for it changed as it is for me to ask that characters be able to catch the legendaries.

Smaller things I'd like to see would be more TMs available, more chances to get reusable TMS, a way to get Kurt's pokéballs (since the mini-events mentioned have never materialized), non-battling Pokémon competitions, and a way to get Pokémon with Dream World-only moves and abilities (such as Hidden Grottoes).

ANYTHING ELSE:
Would you be able to tell people when you accept their app how to use the "don't show on reading list" option and require its use? Because the flood of inventory, HMD, IC Contact, and roster posts every app cycle is messy and makes me worry that I'll miss a game post that gets mixed in.

Despite my nitpicking, I love this game and want to see it continue. You guys have been doing a good job overall and this feedback post shows that you care, so keep up the good work!

BRING US YOUR FEEDBACK!

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