A sincere post to the devs/to whom it may concern:

[zato1]

forewarning: i have loved fonline since the day i heard about it. that being said.. please do not consider this post of criticism as anything but constructive.
i am many year veteran that played at new rules launch of this server, and since 2238 days, would like to add some thoughts:

gameplay is fun still, and that is good. for 2d isometric RPG with dated graphical elements, the real time is very exciting and has moderately steep learning curve. especially with how shit FO4/FO76 was.

however, meta game is very easy now for experienced/patient newbie players, and the timeframe to become experienced from newbie is even more short now. and this unfortunately takes away from replayability/longevity of the game/server. ultimately this is reflected in anemic population which was never this bad before.

my suggestion to devs: don't get discouraged by current situation. theres discords full of fonline players not currently playing any fonline server because they're all unappealing in some way or another. 100+ daily population is still possible with wipe and new rules.

to appeal to new players and veterans alike i would recommend that partial loot again be reinstated across the wasteland, but with different rules for PVE and PVP. PVE corpses should be full drop, but only retrievable by yourself in wasteland for like 6-24 hours real time, to cater to newbies and non-hardcore players. PVP corpses should only drop random items, or have a set "value" of items that may drop. e.g. if you die with avenger and BOS armor, only 1 of 2 will drop, and you will respawn with the remaining item, while other item is lootable by anyone who can grab your corpse.

1 full loot game area is just not enough changes to make wasteland feel harsh and provide true wasteland survival apocalypse simulated experience. however, the addition of full loot PVP areas is a great concept which should be built on more. i am not exactly sure of how it works here, but in other successful pvp games of the past and current times, high intensity PVP areas have good loot that is available only 2-3 times a day, with mid-level loot being available outside of "prime times". even if PVP/hardcore players only log in for prime time fights, this is better than nothing for population longevity of the server.

still love fonline. still love you guys for continuing work on such a project of passion. i would love to play again but its too much the same, and still too easy, to consider under current circumstances. i am surely not alone, as a random fonline discord on christmas day/night, right now has 43 online, 455 (!!!) offline. fonline revival is definitely possible.

also, happy holidays.

sincerely,
a diehard fonline fan

[Henry]

"meta game is very easy now"? Some of us don't know what that means, and since you based a big post mainly on that one line, i ask you please explain it.

However, no need to worry; cvet released the engine code, so now Rotators are re-working it from the ground up. That will take some time, but it means a whole new awesome future for this game. I think we should all look forward to a future so dazzling, it shuts down all FOnline servers that do not use the new engine. This will be like going from the cathode ray tube to transistors.

[swinglinered]

Could just have "Hardcore" options.

"Salt" "Pepper" "Habanero" "Ghost Chile"

Each offering different levels of looting, death XP penalty, and XP bonus.

For example: at "Salt" level, +10% XP, you can be looted by other "Salt" category people, and lose no XP for that specific type of kill (being killed by other "Salt" people), and 10% less death xp penalties in general

"Pepper" -  "Salt" PLUS: you get 10% XP bonus, but can be looted by ANY lv24+ char, and 10% less XP loss for ANY death.

"Habanero" - same as "Pepper" but extra 10% xp bonus, and can be looted by anyone who is also Habanero regardless of level, and another 10% reduction in death penalty.

"Ghost Chile" - Habanero but extra 10% xp bonus, and can be looted by Anyone, anytime. Plus another 10% reduction in death penalty.


Optional:
For each level there is a cumulative 10% chance for some items not being lost.
10-20-30-40%, applied to each item or item group.

Details: chosen at creation or daily reset? Allow changing modes once per week?