I joined ECC around May/June. And I can tell you with a 100% certainty that if I didn't win 83k in lotto, and other factors of pure luck, I would have not stayed on ECC.
I got into a town, of which the owner dotted on me. He was very nice to me, and I in return. Yet I realized I needed to rank up to succeed in anything. He offered me a job, but it payed so little. Come on! It seemed so easy for players to get 1k. No offense to my friend, but I felt like I was doing so much for nothing. Then the lottery happened. I got to resident, but didn't know about the mayor rank, loosing the remaining money. And then I was like, I want to get to mayor! But I could not. Find. Good paying. Jobs. Like I'm not going to spend 2 hours for 5k. Mining? No. That world is stripped of all resources. Nether or end? My gosh, that costs a lot of money. For me to use it on passes? No. Then I realized I couldn't place water, or other simple things. But I don't really mind that.
It was a struggle to get money, and even today I can't seem to find a way to have a steady income. The town I first joined? I'm afraid something bad has happened there. My mayor town? Taken from me. My staff position in my own town? Nada. But I survive. But I hate it.
Now what do I do? How do I get loads of money? Do I just grind? I'm ADHD, I can't do that. Ask for donations? People get tired of that. Luckily, for some reason, the ECC community likes me. But even that I am not so sure of. Does everyone just tolerate me?
Recently I've realized I haven't been playing ECC as much. And when I do, I'm either rather lonely or struggling with money. I put my trust in the wrong places, and am now facing the consequences. I poured too much time into one area, only to be fired from my position. So what do I do now? What other mindless project will I do next to gain money? Am I just super lazy?
Starting out in ECC is tough. And lately, is been too much for people. I pity the builders that can't find their stride. Yet how can I help? I'm broke half of the time.
Maybe ECC will improve. But I'm fine with it being what it is now. I'm just afraid I'll get tired of it.

 

That would be nice if the fact was that the only ways to make enough of a profit are either pure luck (Lotto) or donate a ton like you for basic game play items.

That's not a problem for long term players because they were masochistic enough to grind for a year to get to the top and donated, but what about the starting player?

New players should pick a path of wealth like specializing in mining, farming, pvp, or mob grinding. The problem in this server is that the tools to specialize are extremely costly for a new player to pick up.

Wanna specialize in farming? Forget it because water placement is donor locked, and hopefully some player is available to do it for free. Oh and produce is about under $1 each item starting out. Good luck making that massive farm with no property.

Wanna specialize in mob grinding? Well hopefully the mining world has a mob spawner because the server restricts mob spawning (which was understandable when the server then had +200 players daily) and has not been destroyed. Might as mine instead.

Wanna specalize in mining? Well looky looky the only viable option for a new player. Good luck finding good ores because the easy ones are gone. Might as well get coal because no one wants coal except the new players that have given up on finding good ores.

From experience, getting ~500 coal to afford farm access, then getting about ~1k of ecodollars to get property, and then about ~4.5k of ecodollars to get even a good pickaxe (Your choice between Fortune III or Silk Touch) takes about 1 month of dedicated playing. That is not fun at all. And this is just to get into the good stuff of the server. The scale is way off on this.

This is to limited, lame, and frustrating. I don't believe in making the server easy (that's what drew me in at first), but I do not want it to be just a grind to even get the stuff for getting into the main stuff of ECC.

 

No offense, but just because you are known as a nice guy to the community does not mean that people outside of it think the same. In fact, since I was not active inside the community, I thought you were a dispassionate moderator like the previous staff (and they might have been a cool group of people too, but I was not inside their clique).

I think to alleviate that problem is to make your response to appeals more lively like LanRooks. It gives off the friendly moderator vibe and also makes players feel welcome to the server.

Also Skyblock in my mind is just another grind route rather than a fun addition in my eyes, but I do not know what is planned fully for it.

 

[QUOTE="zr2002, post: 942128, member: 25499"
TL;DR - The "dispassionate" staff members aren't the problem here. The staff team is dedicated to the server and we do our best day in and day out.[/QUOTE]

(Before reading: I'm quoting dedication and effort toward helping new builders, not just forum work and moderation.)

You may be correct when saying "The dispassionate staff members aren't the problem" but I disagree with your second statement. I could make you a list on how many un-dedicated staff members there are with some pretty viable and un-biased evidence. Sure, there are a few staff members who go out there way to help out a builder, but I have seen on numerous occasions where staff members sit in their little hidey hole and not help out a builder. They'll warn them if they're breaking a rule, but not help them when they need it most. So no, the "dispassionate" staff members aren't the problem, they can still show dedication and step out to help people, even if they don't have a passion to help. But the sheer ignorance with some staff members is one of the problems, not the main, but it is a problem.

No, my goal isn't to attack the staff team. My goal is to make sure that the people who ignore the builders acknowledge what they're doing. This goes for everyone (including the staff team and community)

If we want change, we need to make it change, and change requires effort

- oof

 

@zr2002

to quote your comment.

(Before reading: I'm quoting dedication and effort toward helping new builders, not just forum work and moderation.)

You may be correct when saying "The dispassionate staff members aren't the problem" but I disagree with your second statement. I could make you a list on how many un-dedicated staff members there are with some pretty viable and un-biased evidence. Sure, there are a few staff members who go out there way to help out a builder, but I have seen on numerous occasions where staff members sit in their little hidey hole and not help out a builder. They'll warn them if they're breaking a rule, but not help them when they need it most. So no, the "dispassionate" staff members aren't the problem, they can still show dedication and step out to help people, even if they don't have a passion to help. But the sheer ignorance with some staff members is one of the problems, not the main, but it is a problem.

No, my goal isn't to attack the staff team. My goal is to make sure that the people who ignore the builders acknowledge what they're doing. This goes for everyone (including the staff team and community)

If we want change, we need to make it change, and change requires effort

 

I'm sorry, but I really don't think you have the right to judge me based on one or two appeal responses and even give me advice on how to handle appeals/anything staff related (LanRooks is a great SuperMod, I'm not denying that). I'm always open to constructive criticism, I appreciate users who approach me in a polite manner and discuss how a certain situation was handled with me and give me some sort of improvement I could make for the future. However, users that just come up to me and say "You're wrong." rather than actually give me some sort of suggestion frustrate me. This is basically what's wrong with this thread, too... It's made just to point out ECC's flaws and why our playerbase is failing. If we really want something to be done then file a suggestion. If you believe staff could be doing a better job with certain things fill a staff feedback form out in the BA/C section and bring it to the attention of SAs. But anyway, appeals aren't exactly a place to be "friendly" or nice. While it is a good idea to explain to new users what the rules are for first-time rule breakers (which is almost always done in appeals) we don't really need to explain the rules to repeat offenders or people who have supposedly read the rules already. If you're looking for compassion from staff members simply don't break the rules...

@American_Orange I wouldn't say they sit in their "hidey hole" and warn builders without helping them. While yes, occasionally a builder's question goes unanswered it usually has to do with the fact that staff are busy at the time and are unable to help the user. I really don't think it's as big of a problem as you're making it out to be, though, as it really doesn't happen a whole lot.

 

Alright then. Well there is no use of being friends with builders if they do not stay. So I guess some early game improvements are necessary in order for builders to stay.

 

You are giving a lot of problems yet no solutions. Do you have any solutions to these "problems"?

 

https://i.imgur.com/3lbr5UK.png
Now he's saying services should be free make up your mind please and stop wasting peoples time here. This is not the strength and stability ECC needs in the negotiations

 

SADLY It seems I have lost the entire screenshot, but don't worry mate we still have the cropped one and It was really no problem at all you don't have to thank me :)

 

As a new player I feel as if I'm extremely restricted on what I can do. I find it near impossible to pay people for services as they just don't care to do it for me, and because of this my gameplay is brutally restricted. If I wasn't as decent as I am when it comes to player vs. player I'd have a balance of $300. Please help the new guys out a little bit more homies!

 

I think the server was more enjoyable back in 2014. Does anyone use the auction system anymore? I miss player run auctions. I definitely think that it is harder (and more boring) to make money now than what it was like just a few years back. Not everyone has several hours to grind for ranks. That has to be one of largest deterring factors for new players.

 

Oh and also if you mine, and someone tps you there, there’s a beautifully humongous chance they may start mining and steal all your ores! Even though you had payed 10k for the service!
And then they become higher up like staff.
Great service, 5 stars

 

The old auction system was definitely a lot more engaging but it was also a lot more susceptible to scamming and illegitimate auctions which is why they switched it. I also think that it might be harder now to make money but income opportunities now are more diverse than they were. Sports betting and the stock market (RIP) coupled with new farming techniques and more items to sell were definitely not present back in 2014.

Maybe harder, but definitely not boring.

 

Income may have the potential to be more diverse, but the top-dogs as far as income are mining and farming. I find running down isles of a farm endlessly breaking pumpkins boring, but to each their own. Mining may be fun for the first week or so, but the same-old activities become boring (and VERY repetitive.) This is mostly the reason I left the server, Just because the activities seem endless and repetitive. This might be the Turn-Off for new players, since the feeling of achievement-per-hours-put into the server doesn't feel like a very good ratio. Not everyone has a large amount of time to grind for a pumpkin axe, or a max pickaxe. (Especially with some people working jobs, going to school, or doing both at the same time.)

Thanks for the mature discussion. :);)

Bold and underline TL;DR