Update Gens - Release | August The 25th 2023

JustThiemo said:

A 15-minute blast.​

So, mark your calendar – every 15 minutes, be ready to jump into these events and make the most of their short-lived but super rewarding nature.​

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JustThiemo said:

If you have feedback or any suggestion, let us know, we'd love to make this as good as we can.

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Minecraftian said:

That might be a little difficult.


---Initial thought(s)---
Attempted funny aside, this is interesting. It's not what I'd automatically associate with Jartex - pick-up-and-play gamemodes (Eggwars, Bedwars, The Bridge, Creative) and dedicated gamemodes (Factions, Prison, Skyblock) are what Jartex is known for, and have their own playstyles. Gen servers are in a weird gray area where the primary element (generators) are passive/idle, but only active while you're on your island(?)... while the bulk of the content has nothing to do with the server concept, and requires you to be away(?) from your island (can you farm/woodcut on your island?). This turns it into a dedicated gamemode whose only way to progress is through content that's pretty much divorced from the basic appeal - farming, fishing, woodcutting, mining are just a chore you have to do if you want to progress at a steady pace, both for the resources and to get past the progression wall of unlocking further areas. Jartex usually tries to avoid adopting new servers, so seeing a 'mainstream' mode like gens was also kind of surprising.

As an example, Prison's "goal" is similar: grind for the highest rank prestige possible. Both prestiging and generator upgrades require specific currencies. Increasing your prestige offers you a better/faster way to obtain the resources you need, just like better generators give better resources. In Prison, all of this progression is tied to one gameplay element: mining. Everyone has to mine if they want to progress, regardless of perks, prestige and bank account, and will be rewarded for their investment of time. In Gens, there's the generators themselves (passive income which only produces while you're in the island) and 4 other active methods, pick one. The investment needed for Island Stars also hasn't been specified, so I can only guess.

What gen servers have going for them is the 'incremental' appeal of seeing progression improve over time even if you aren't truly micromanaging things. If progress is gated by resources then however fun, interactive, and community oriented you've made things it'll still be a slog for some people.
- I really like you using events to incentivize more activities than just the optimal or whatever niche you want to follow. They seem heavily biased towards farming events, which... is probably a good thing, since it gets players out of the early grind hell they'll be stuck in, letting them access cooler content faster - but might also make it harder for players to actually farm if everyone shares the same world and resources.

Its strength will be in its already existing community. Since Jartex is home to a whole lot of servers with their own playerbase, people will join Gens even if only to spam see ''new player, what do?". That said, it doesn't seem like players will be able to interact or cooperate with each other (Skyblock public "grinding" islands, Prison 'public' private mines) outside of the grinding worlds. Playershops and player trading do help this though.

Initially, it looks like you're publishing an exploration/roleplay/adventure server and labeling it "Generator Server". Then you're gating progression behind a "play"wall. People that join for the experience will stay and enjoy their time here, but players that wanted a generator server may resent having to play something different if they want to see any real progress. I know actual generator servers do use the farm/other mechanic, but it can still be a weird impression. Gen servers do need something to do after all, not just sit around your island. Curious and hopeful to see how this works out.

(It says that generators are unlocked at certain level milestones, but it doesn't say anything about obtaining those generators. Kind of curious as to how you'll implement this, as a second look through shows that after level 30, which is pretty much where the Farmer v. Farmer grind ends, you don't really need the further areas to progress. Unless the requirements to upgrade to those generators are obscenely expensive to where you need the improved money from woodcutting/adventuring/mining. Players shouldn't be punished if they don't want to use a mechanic, but they should be rewarded if they want to use it. Giving one mechanic a disproportionate advantage could be seen punishing those that won't use it, but the fact that you have to actively unlock it means it should have something unique as a reward. It's a hard balance to strike, yes. :d

not actually a criticism

Also, this is the 4th server to use a "world" variant - Factions, Skyblock, Survival, and now Generators. Nothing against it, it works great and is different this season, but each gamemode seems to share this now.

Here's a good bad idea: Since this gamemode will (very likely) receive the 3-4 month reset treatment, treat it as a prestige. Every season reset, give players a slightly larger base multiplier just so they can compare their strategies to what they previously had. Whether it's money, specific resources, etc.)

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JustThiemo said:

23:30 IST

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JustThiemo said:

This is why the quest line will guide you through all the features you unlock!

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hakim251 said:

No one's reading this, stop tryharding for staff no one cares

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