A few things I noticed right off that should be fixed

[KoRnKloWn]

I just started playing this game, and there are a few things that MUST be fixed if this game is going to be popular.
First of all, from what I've seen there is no map, you should have a map, and to make it more realistic, when you get a quest you should be able to ask them to mark your map (and if they don't know the exact location they can mark a general area where it is).
Also, the monsters don't move, it makes the battles kind of bland, they should all have a little path were they are walking back and fourth or something. And battle animations should be improved a little too, and maybe more options when fighting (this is just an opinion, but it makes MMORPGs WAY more fun when you press different buttons to attack, the auto-attack thing gets kinda old).

There should also be some more AI characters, and they should be walking around the world a little, it helps with the image of the world, makes it more realistic. You could even have packs of beasts in certain areas with an AI fighting them, or something, just to make it more interesting. Other wise all you do is walk around and craft, and pick fights with beast statues.

I know this game is a work in progress, and it has GREAT potential, the graphics are awesome, and the music is cool. So far the story is pretty awesome, I like the characters, and I love the beast designs, they are really original, however, if you want this game to pick up popularity, then these are some basic things that NEED to be fixed.

Mostly there needs to be a map that can be marked for quests (most people get fed up with trying to find their destination, and quit playing), and the beasts need to move, and battles need to be improved (lets face it, for MAJORITY of gamers, fighting is the most important role in a game, if the fighting is boring, then there isn't a whole lot of hope for the game), mostly just the battle animations. It doesn't really look like a real fight, it looks more like you're slapping or poking the enemy -_-

[Illysia]

If you had done some searches you would find that pretty much everything you've taken issue with will be addressed when there are enough people working on the Dev team to address it. However, this is a roleplay centric MMO, not just another clone of the others, so some features will not be implemented and the majority of players will probably not care for it. However, for those players, they can try to get the features implemented on the non roleplay server or they can go play a MMO that has things like a minimap already.

[steuben]

actually the moving ai chars will be in game sooner than not. and then the real fun begins.

[RlyDontKnow]

maybe more options when fighting (this is just an opinion, but it makes MMORPGs WAY more fun when you press different buttons to attack, the auto-attack thing gets kinda old).

that's planned, however it'll take quite a while to get it done

There should also be some more AI characters, and they should be walking around the world a little, it helps with the image of the world, makes it more realistic.

that's being worked on, but so far we have 2 NPCs proving the concept at least works in hydlaa.

You could even have packs of beasts in certain areas with an AI fighting them, or something, just to make it more interesting.

we already have on of those packs with it's own structure (ressource collector, fighter, master) that dynamically reacts to you and is almost always in move - more to come

as for maps: there are maps ingame and there's a plan on handing out maps by NPCs that mark the location you should go at. however there won't be minimaps as you commonly see them in other games. if your character doesn't know his way around, he has to be able to read a map

as for animations: sure they aren't nice but the best we have atm. it's really hard to get a hold of animators that work for free - if you know any, poke them to the project

[Trikitiger]

as for maps: there are maps ingame and there's a plan on handing out maps by NPCs that mark the location you should go at. however there won't be minimaps as you commonly see them in other games. if your character doesn't know his way around, he has to be able to read a map

as for animations: sure they aren't nice but the best we have atm. it's really hard to get a hold of animators that work for free - if you know any, poke them to the project

Definitely agree on the maps, but I wish that characters with a cartographer parent could "make them as they go" (My [character's] mother was a cartographer, yet I don't pick up any skills from her? Yet I learn leatherworking from my father and gain a fair amount of knowledge?); as long as they have paper and ink of course ^_~. More of a wish list thing there.

As for animators, if you use max (or even if you don't and you have the file as an OBJ) I'll throw in some animations when I get the time. I'm currently working on class projects (rigging a new character from scratch X.X, and creating a level with custom scripts in order to work how I want), and after that a snake model request (simple dimple :3), but I'm still pretty skilled at animating. Search Trikitiger on Youtube and look at Taichi (first organic animation) and my Unity3D video (Basic animations for running around a world, scripted when the animations went off myself).

[LigH]

It is not the first time that people just after a few days or weeks already "demand" the implementation of things which have been already either rejected or planned for months or even years, without even thinking about searching for hints about it or at least asking if they have been considered already. And it won't be the last one.

1) "We should have a map" -- We have maps. Empty maps you can even draw on! And a very simple city map you can buy. But without a magically moving point showing "You are here". In times when there were no navigation devices and you had to use street maps too in real life, those had no "current position" markers either. Apart from that, our already implemented world is so tiny (just 8 surface maps + a few elsewhere, 2.5 cities and a fortress), especially compared to the whole planned world according to our settings, you will have visited and remembered it all after a month easily. And if you are afraid of getting lost, find friends who will guide you. -- You believe that most people quit because they can't find the quest destinations ... did you make polls about that? Doing NPC quests is optional. You can as well only roleplay with other human players. And if you really want to do NPC quests and don't know your way, why not asking around where to find someone? Even the advisors in the Help channel would be allowed to give you a rough direction, but it would be much more natural to ask others in a style as if your character is a citizen... and that's already "roleplaying"!

2) Monsters do move. Try to hit one and run away -- then they will follow. They currently don't attack you while passing by - just because we implemented so many new species in the last months, and still need time for balancing their stats and skills. We don't want the little rest of players leaving too because it accidently went impossible to travel between cities just because a herd of Ulbernauts pounces every traveler. It showed that this was a good decision, as there have been mistakes which made NPCs a bit unfair ... so it was just fortunate that we made them all non-chasing temporarily. After balancing them back, some of them will ambush you again surely... You can already get a hint of that when you inspect the Trepors at Shindrok's crater more closely. You don't know where that is? - Go ask people next to you. In game. Interaction is the key. You don't play that game all alone.

3) You will possibly have missed that some merchants have a day cycle and move too. But the current implementation with predefined paths is not really optimal, so it is not implemented for all of them. Furthermore, you will possibly not be able to even guess the issues arising if the majority of NPCs would move "on their own" all the time - both the required calculations in the server as well as the required network communication to tell possibly hundreds of clients worldwide about their motions in realtime could make the game unplayable.

4) Animations are simple, lack of diversity. Yes, that's true. But ... don't you think that if we had enough animators with professional skills who would work for us without being paid for it, we already would have that implemented years ago? Instead, animators belong to the "most wanted" kind of developers. Don't compare a leisure time project with a paid full time job. We can't compete with World of Warcraft. We don't even want to - at least not in clichés...
__

@ Trikitiger: Please read http://www.planeshift.it/recruitment.html

[ProzacR]

First of all, from what I've seen there is no map, you should have a map, and to make it more realistic, when you get a quest you should be able to ask them to mark your map (and if they don't know the exact location they can mark a general area where it is).

YES. I even submitted bug about this they changed to WONTFIX that * me off and I do NOT play now.
All ~post2005 MMO games have mini-map and Planeshift tries his best to be as ancient and against current MMO trends as possible.
Simply it is too annoying to navigate manually even by using pour quality hand drawn jpeg files on net. Many ppl will not play for sure because of this. And devs still have sadistic desires to make it as hard as possible. Maybe it is ok to have few hi lvl maps without navigation for experienced players like dungeons or sth like that, but NOT in first tutorial area.
Running like * everywhere for tutorial exit simply * many people off game end of story.

In times when there were no navigation devices and you had to use street maps too in real life, those had no "current position" markers either.

Yes, but it that times it was no option to just download better (better say easier) world with better navigation.
Also towns were well marked with large signs, navigation towers, wall maps with "you are here now" etc.
Also "cheaters" simply using other ppl made maps from net would be imposable to fight against and they will get large advantage over other players.

[Phantomboy86]

Lets see, as a complete noob myself, The first thing i found myself doing was taking those first three quests from the NPCS where you spawn out of the tutorial. Letters to brado, alright, deliver a letter, that seemed simple enough! So i head out to Ojaveda... or so i thought as i walked out the forest gate.

But what I came across on my wanderings was much more valuable then the city.  After getting into a fight with an arangma (And failing horribly, since i had in those 5 minutes started playing) and running away, I ran into another player whom commented on this. I said yes, since that was really all i wasnt afraid to say without 'breaking character'. This person kindly healed me, and asked where i was going, Again my one word answer was 'Ojaveda'. The player laughed, told me i was going the wrong way, and offered to guide me. Along the way I was taught how to not break character and still talk OOC with brackets, the location of places along the Ojaroads, and countless other things i still depend on today. All without a map.

Basically what Im saying is that you can learn more NOT knowing where your going (including directions to where you're supposed to go  ) then you could just having an easy straight up path there. In the words of the ever famous Douglas Adams; "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."

and of course just for giggles ill add a favorite; "He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which."

[ProzacR]

Well you are lucky.
I played quite a lot before wipe of accounts.
So I crated new char and yes I have not so bad knowledge about places myself.
So after tutorial tutorial exit was replaced I think and I tried old way a lot In general I found even more interface development progress than I expected.
Then I came into full world, but in totally other place than fist char. Still I managed to remember where I am and I tired quest from before but NPC gave other quest than I expected and told only other NPC name. I looked around it was totally empty, bad time of day or sth. So I felt like whaa tell me more...of course NPC can not tell me more so I filled bug lol. I really need good map.
But it will not be fixed and I will not play.  

It is not what I expect from my game: try to find NPC you need for 2 hours somehow and then say Hello and give apple to him.
Not this is realistic not interesting too.
---
And if this game WILL become popular web sites will appear explaining everything in detail and 3 month worth questing will be possible to finish in few hours.

[novacadian]

... web sites will appear explaining everything in detail and 3 month worth questing will be possible to finish in few hours.

There are already are.

Your time could have been better spent doing a google search instead of posting about it. 

-Nova

[Sarva]

Characters exiting the tutorial now get a basic map of Hydlaa and East Hydlaa, with the locations of some NPCs on them. Also they get a letter from a friend that gives you some information about some of the more important NPCs in Hydlaa.

Thereis at least one player character that is selling books on a regular basis and I knwo he is getting more maps in his inventory of books being sold

[ProzacR]

Those web sites are quite outdated so kinda useless.

Those basic maps from tutorials are totally useless if you read entire topic you should understand aldredy that we talk here about real minimap in which you can see large red blinking spot go there and other large blinking spot you are here.
Or something little bit harder, but still. Sth like that acessable with one magic button in keyboard.

[novacadian]

Not sure about blinking maps.... but maps which have come to my attention have mining locations, every NPC that is of any consequence and gridded markings matching the /pos command. Maybe something may have been missed due to their non-blinking nature; yet it is highly doubted. 

Of course the use of such web spoilers would be condemned by one an all. 

- Nova

[Wavemaker]

Mostly there needs to be a map that can be marked for quests (most people get fed up with trying to find their destination, and quit playing)

Exactly. Only a detailed map has been suggested multiple times before and nothing's been done. Considering that your character already has a background history in Yliakum (i.e. character creation), and that it's been inhabited and charted for quite some time, one should already have a general map that keeps adding detail. It's "realistic" to have a map of a place you've been living in, and no one should poke in the dark for NPCs or destinations that you've just been asked to contact or visit by a quest giving NPC.

As for models and animations, they are not Open Source in this game, despite PlaneShift being advertised as an "Open Source Game" on the internet, so they don't have many volunteers willing to give up their work. They've been suggested some Open Source animations / motion capture before in 2005 but no one said a thing. It's because this game would require to copyright them to Atomic Blue, which they obviously cannot do with the existing Open Source animations available for true Open Source projects.

[RlyDontKnow]

Mostly there needs to be a map that can be marked for quests (most people get fed up with trying to find their destination, and quit playing)

Exactly. Only a detailed map has been suggested multiple times before and nothing's been done. Considering that your character already has a background history in Yliakum (i.e. character creation), and that it's been inhabited and charted for quite some time, one should already have a general map that keeps adding detail.

it is being worked on, however there won't be an automatic map that adds details as you go. if you want something additional on your map, you have to put it there yourself

As for models and animations, they are not Open Source in this game, despite PlaneShift being advertised as an "Open Source Game" on the internet, so they don't have many volunteers willing to give up their work. They've been suggested some Open Source animations / motion capture before in 2005 but no one said a thing. It's because this game would require to copyright them to Atomic Blue, which they obviously cannot do with the existing Open Source animations available for true Open Source projects.

there are public domain motion capture collections, too, however that doesn't change that they aren't used due to issues with the format (bvh). they'd have to be exported to a different format (which isn't exactly trivial) and on top of that would need quite some polishing done by hand as motion captures are made for humanoid bone structures which isn't true proportional wise or even generally bone structure wise (think of the enki tail, klyros wings for example) for most ingame models. as there aren't ressources to do either (write the exporter and polish the animations), they aren't in.

as for open source: there's a difference between engine and content - the engine PlaneShift is open source, the game PlaneShift (read: the content, i.e. more than just sample art/data) isn't