48-hr Returner's Protection Bubble after coming out of Vacation Mode

[Aurabolt]

To prevent abuse, this would only be applied to people who are coming back from a longterm VM. At least a week or more.

The mechanics would be similar to Beginner's Protection:

• While Returner's Protection is active, you can't be attacked by another player. Attacking another player automatically ends it.
• While Returner's Protection is active, resource and favor generate 100% faster (200% is Merchant and/or High Priestess is Active).
• While Returner's Protection is active, contruction/recruitment times and resource costs are reduced by 50%.
• While Returner's Protection is active, Academy research times and resource costs are reduced by 50%.
• While Returner's Protection is active, the time to trade resources between cities controlled by the player is reduced by 50% (100% if Captain is Active).
• While Returner's Protection is Active, The wait times to Demand Resources or Troops rom Farms is reduced by 50% (100% if Captain is Active).

These perks would not only help the returning player get themselves up to speed on what they missed while away but is also incentivizes people into taking long breaks when needed. They're generous perks but when a server is either mid or late stage, it helps get them caught up.

That aside. Another no-brainer change that should be made to VM is the remaining time any active Advisors you have is paused until you return from VM. Otherwise you're just wasting money/gold on a longterm VM to then have to reactivate your Advisors. That's just about being reasonable.

I also think all players should get 90 Days (3 Months) worth of VM per year. Even more so with COVID-19, it's become clear that the days we get to start + 14 more to buy simply isn't enough. In addition to having 90 Days, players can buy up to 30 more days for a total of up to 120 days worth of VM a year.

To prevent abuse, after 20 days into VM the player will get a friendly email reminding them that the longer they're away, the bigger the risk of them being very behind when they return as well as the option of quitting one or more servers. If they opt into quitting one or more servers, they will get to pick which servers to leave. If the opt not to quit, they won't see any more check-in emails until their VM is about to expire. If they ignore the Day 20 email, they will get another one 5 days later to inform them if they don't respond promptly, their VM will end on Day 30 to save their remaining VM days. If that email is ignored or no response, their VM automatically ends on Day 20. Alternatively, you can respond to these warnings via App or Browser.

These are just some ideas to make things a bit easier for folks and more so in these times. Speaking for myself, Grep shouldn't feel like a full time job and more so since I don't get paid for it. LOL. Just sayin'.

 

[DeletedUser12192]

90 day VM is ridiculous, imagine activating a 90 day VM 3 months before your next anniversary, that will, unfortunately, carry over and become 180 days, and if you are playing a WW world, that would be so annoying to deal with. Honestly, if you're in VM for longer than 2-3 weeks, just quit the game and handoff and save both sides the trouble.

Inno already gave 15-16 days of extra VM because of Covid last year. It seems like you like running into VM anytime the world isn't going in your favor and you want Inno to cater to your wants.

 

[Aurabolt]

Obviously if you wanna quit then you quit. That isn't my point in this. I have played Grep while hospitalized three times in recent years without using VM--two of them for serious health issues--so don't try to pull that on me. I only use VM when necessary. When I pull out of a server, I break cleanly.

Also, naturally there would need to be measures in place to prevent abuse. Your point bout the anniversary reset was one I missed. In a situation like that, the game would detect how close your are to your VM Refresh and adjust accordingly. Your refresh would be delayed per 30 days you were in VM. For examine mine is May 3. If I'm in VM for a month, my refresh would be June 3. July 3 for 2 months and August 3 for 3 months. In short, there would be adjustments to prevent abuse. There already is a 48-hour vulnerability window you can't cancel early when you activate VM after all.

 

[DeletedUser16462]

would definitely like to see the advisors timer pause while in VM. unless you know you are going into vm 3-4 weeks out and can plan it with a 14 day extension you loose. if all resource and favor generation is paused why cant the advisors?

The rest might be nice in a causal world, but not really a fan of this idea.

 

[Acer]

Replying as a player here:

Vacation mode on its self is an amazing thing Inno already allows us players to benefit from. There's not a lot of MMO's that have this type of system. I don't think people should be rewarded for using it, as it already is a reward on its own. Certain situations such as being hospitalized aren't fair on anyone, and of course out of your control. But I'd say that's beyond an excuse to use for a game, if your health is at risk the game shouldn't even matter anymore.

I have so far only seen 1/10 players go into VM for fair reasons, the other 9/10 are either fed up with the game or can't deal with the stress. While their team mates carry on fighting, and then those players come back and get buffs? Honestly, you can extend your VM with gold, You can make 20-50k Gold while trading on a new world, so you'll be able to extend your VM and still have lots left to boost your progress with.

This game is very competitive, and takes a lot of time and effort, if you play this competitively you are expected to have a hard time, if you play this casually ( which is also quite fun ), you probably won't be doing as good, but you'll not have to worry about VM and days off, you can just take them off. That is the sacrifice you make for playing competitively, and you know that when you start a world.

Although I empathize with your hospitalization, and many other people who deal with stuff that just comes up and is out of their control, I personally feel like we shouldn't reward the other 9/10 for going in VM so they can sim to victories, or hold up island spaces for 5+ weeks with no intention to return, or be buffed when they DO return to be a thorn in the eye.