Below are some suggestions and questions in a more or less random order. As I have said in many posts before, I think that:
The game-play/mechanics of TFW is great
The two expansions have a lot going for them still
There are some minor balancing issues but overall most things seem fine
As always, however, the one major thing that TFW lacks is... players. Whenever I think of changes that I would like to see to TFW, these changes are almost always about making the game attract and retain more players. This is also true for the stuff below.
[Edit: All of this was written in one go, with no particular care for grammar, order or anything else that potentially would make it easier to read
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HOMEPAGEWith a new and fresh start, I think it would be a good idea to also have a new design for the homepage. This would really signal that the TFW is now in a new phase and that things are changing. It would also be a great opportunity to make the homepage a bit more user friendly (easier access to the relevant sections of the game/forum/guides/wiki/rules etc.).
FORUMTFW has a ridiculous amount of members. There is, of course, no correspondence between registered members and active members and I remember that I found that very odd when I first started playing. My thought was something like, ‘Hmm... So many members and only 10 people playing. What kind of a game is this?!’. I am not sure what you can do about this but maybe deleting old accounts and/or having players re-registering again might be something to think about.
In line with the above, maybe it is also time to move a lot of old, obsolete stuff to an archive/vault. Perhaps it is not necessary to delete old and negative posts but with the new TFW around, they can at least be moved.
I am a massive supporter of user-generated content and the corresponding rewards that might go with this content. I am also a massive supporter of those forums that have features that display contributions. So, for instance, if you have produced a number of good wiki entries, maybe you should be awarded a certain amount of gold (see more of this below). But you could also get some kind of nice badge saying something admittedly nerdy like ‘TFW Wiki Master’. You could get badges for reaching 1000 games, having written various guides, created and maintained a blog, playing in Beta, etc. This will potentially make players feel more part of the community/experience of being a wilder and, in turn, retain these players. For an example of what I have in mind here, have a look at the boardgeek.com.
Ask people to contribute on the forum. An example would be to have CaveTroll revealing some of his deck building ideas. Another could be to ask Altren (oh well, you get the idea...) for tips and tricks of how to play aggressively. Once such posts are up, discussion will follow and that means activity.
REWARDS I think TFW should actively encourage players to contribute stuff. The scripting system is in place for scenarios and stuff like that. I think players should be awarded in gold for scripts that meet a certain standard and consequentially can stay on the server. The same goes for tutorials, wiki entries, blogs, guides, constructive forum posts, suggestions for improvement, card ideas, etc. etc. The reason for this is that activity generates activity and rewarded activity generates even more activity.
UPDATESThere is now a change log. That is a great thing and I hope it keeps updated. I think that updates on the homepage should be made, at the very least, on weekly basis. If new players see activity, they will also realize that this game is going in the right direction even if the lobby is not always packed. Homepage updates need not be very substantial. It can be rather silly stuff along the lines of who won the most EC’s (can’t remember what they tourney is called now...) this or that week or it could be links to particular instructive forum posts or to someone’s new TFW blog or whatever. But updated the homepage must be.
There should be a monthly newsletter with all the relevant stuff going on.
MANAGEMENTThere is a post outlining a few things that the new proprietors are considering. I would like to see this updated more often, if only with ‘status updates’ telling us how things are actually progressing with the outlined plans.
I would like to see a ‘Meet the Team’ section on the forum. I would like to know who does what and why. Most importantly, I would like to know what kind of financial backing (if any) there is for keeping TFW running. Again, such a thing would indicate to new players what they can and can’t expect from TFW in terms of expansions, advertising, development etc. etc. (As much as I admire everything that jed did with TFW – and that is a lot, indeed! – I hope the days of running it on a solitary basis are now over. )
Promote active people to forum mods and in-game mods as well (and give them suitable rewards). Special responsibilities make people feel special
Well, I have lots more to say but I think I will edit this post with new stuff rather than to go on and on at this point. Comments and suggestions are welcome
