Modcraft community

[Steff]

As I heard  some people are not happy with some parts of our community. I want to start here a collection thread to make it better. I found it realy surprising that people dont like some stuff.

And because people seam to dislike some parts of the project but dont ask me to make it better, i want to start here and ask you.

What do you want.
What do we need on Modcraft.
What could we do to bring wow modding back again to more activity.

Hope to get much feedback from your side

Greatings Steff

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Summery of posted and planed stuff:


- Structure of the board is bad. Stuff is hard to find. We need to rework it.
-- Moderated tutorials overview page
-- Same for resources or an own database for such stuff in the future.
- Change host to get our domain modcraft.io as fixed one and more possibilities for tech stuff.
- Portal page with blog and best new media content
- Shout box or IRC integration on main or portal page
- Get our domain modcraft.io fixed and more possibility’s for tech stuff.
- Expanding the tutorial with general needed stuff.
- Create a tutorial request board. Perahaps where every request is a poll. So tutorial writers can see what the community needs most.
- Version tags and tags more in general.
- Active moderation team controll the rules and help.
- Contests.
- DONE: Merge Showoff boards to one on top layer.

[Amaroth]

What I don't like about Modcraft is the only one thing - its sometimes pretty hard to actually find here what you are just (not) looking for. And no, Search function doesn't solve this at all.

More important for me is also fact that sometimes you are not entirely sure what the hell you are looking for. There are plenty of cool releases around, for instance, and nearly noone knows about all of them - and so only a few of members put them into use, while if everyone knew about all releases ever released here, most of them would be used by far, far more users.

Tutorials are the same thing. When nearly ALL beginners ask the SAME questions, there just MUST be something wrong. Tutorials are either not visible enough for them or too long for them to bother reading them. Short FAQ wouldn't hurt. I also never found where the hell is that sticky with 132 error codes. I always had to use search to find that damned topic.

So, overall, Modcraft forum is very, very confusing, a place where a lot of things are actually pretty hard to find, especially when you are new to it. About community... well, I never had any big problem with that at all. I am happy to share my experience here and also happy to read or download something made by someone more experienced than me. Its a good exchange and I enjoy that its possible here.

[spik96]

Hi !

I'm kind of new here, so I still remember well my complete-newb stage. I agree with Amaroth about the issues he highlighted in the design of the site. Things are hard to find.
I don't have any problem with the Modcraft community itself, people seem friendly... Maybe one could argue there is not enough people or something like that but really I don't see any issue.

To fix these problems, you might consider moving from this old phpBB version you use. That would also surely improve the aesthetic which currently looks a bit 2005ish.
What is superparanoid ? If that's a free hosting, what powers do you have over the site ?
I checked and the domain modcraft.com seems to be available =) !

Anyway don't take this as a negative criticisim against you or anyone working here. I like Modcraft a lot and I thank you for the efforts you put into it.

EDIT : Hmm, about bringing more people, I don't know, maybe put on the main page screenshots of nice looking edits ? You know that "new expansion feeling" you get when Blizzard presented new places ? That's appealing I think. But again, there is no proper main page, so it would also require to move out from phpBB.

[Steff]

@Amaroth
I am with you. We need to rework the structure of modcraft heavy. Even I search stuff I KNOW I have seen it already. It took often much time to refined it again. Searched the 132 post also many times 

The sub boards for tutorials are really not good. I think we should do one tut board AND a moderated index page where all tuts are listed. I only don’t get it why people often don’t see the start tutorial and use it 
My plan for the future is a content database to search and find resources and tools. With a tag system and better search. It also should make it easier to share and find models and stuff.
Nice that you like the community.

@spik96
We are on 3.0…. 3.1 is current. And the problem with it is that they changed the plugin system. So old modes just don’t work anymore. Also they need 6 years to get from 3.0 to 3.1. But the changes are not so big.
I think about changing the forum system. But all possible boards out there are not really that good….
The aesthetic is taste I think . But I will do a poll about it and if it is really such a big point a change is possible.
Superparanoid is the main domain from the root we host in the moment. Our domain is modcraft.io and we soon will erase this superpranoid thing fully. The host was offered us for free from a friend and we have full access. But the hoster made some problems in the past that’s why we will move soon to a new one. There we can do again stuff like a shout box what many people want to have. Or an IRC connection direct on main page. We will see. I dislike the fact that there is one skype, irc and if we do it a shout box for one community. Cuts all in pieces.

Beside this. What features do you think are missing?

I don’t take something fast as bad critics. I am always happy if people come and tell me what they think. But sometimes I have not the same opinion
We plan to have a moderated blog and a new nice image/movie thing on a portal page. This will get the start page but people will also be able to direct link to forum if they don’t like start pages.
This blog will post new posts also in different social media channels. Also a newsletter will try to re motivate older members and give them an overview every month or 2 monthly.
I think there are not to less people. The main problem is that wow modding is not the easiest thing to do in free time. Doing creative and technical stuff can motivate and give fun. But to get good or really finish a project you need a long breath. I often see people come and go again fast after they have done some stuff because they recognize it is much work.

I try to get Maruum to work now for years and it is not easy to get people to work. And the other stay in the project till they are able to do something.

Beside this technical stuff we will also expand the team to do stuff like news, interviews and so on.

I will collect the ideas in the main post. To give other readers an overview.

Thanks to both of you!!!

And others?   POST

[stoneharry]

My issues, which I realise you already list in your summary, are currently:

1) Domain. The domain doesn't give us any search engine presence. It's also not 'professional' (subdomain of a unrelated domain to the site). Domains are cheap as hell. Cromon purchased Modcraft.io. Let's make a switch to a proper one.

2) Hosting. The current free hosting is unstable in the fact that it is being provided out of generosity. We don't know how long it will last. We don't know if we will get notice before it goes away. It stops us having some features (shoutbox). I don't know if regular backups are being made (attachment issues in the past).

Solutions?

Well 1) is easy to fix. It's just choosing in who's name you want to purchase it and what domain to use. Again, modcraft.io is already purchased by Cromon.

How to fix 2? Community funded? Can't see another way really. Would we raise enough donations? I don't know. I'd contribute some every month if it meant the site improved. We could have moved back to OC and restructured the sections (merge ME & Emu, add/remove subforums) but Steff wants to keep Modcraft away from the hacking and exploiting side of things (fair enough).

[Rangorn]

What do you want.
What do we need on Modcraft.
What could we do to bring wow modding back again to more activity.

1)  >3.3.5 Content
2) >3.3.5 Content
3) >3.3.5 Content

[stoneharry]

What do you want.
What do we need on Modcraft.
What could we do to bring wow modding back again to more activity.

1)  >3.3.5 Content
2) >3.3.5 Content
3) >3.3.5 Content

See I disagree with this. Almost everything is known about 3.3.5a and we have an emulator better than we could ever ask for. So you can do almost anything with this patch. It's the best patch to customise.

Higher patches means more game functionality and better graphics but the emulators are a long way off and the game is a lot more complicated and thus harder to do stuff with.

People seem to not realise that right now is the best the emulation/ME scene has ever been. The content is off a higher quality than it ever has been before.

Sure, back in TBC we had far more people active within the scene. But the quality of content was shockingly bad. Servers were unstable as hell. Etc.

The fact is the barriers to entry these days are very hard - you can't just jump in and do stuff like a normal game engine. You have to learn WoW, all these systems and how everything is put together, and somehow be able to modfiy that. It takes a lot of commitment to produce content these days, and this is why we don't have tons of people.

WoW is a hobbie - not many actual programmers/modelers/etc are actually attracted to this market. It is very niche. Most of us are amateurs trying to have fun. It makes it hard.

Furthermore, you can't change the fact WoW is a dying game, and as retail becomes less popular so will the interest in private servers. There will always be a niche for private servers, but that will be small compared to previous populations.

[Rangorn]

Wotlk is easier, more stable, and a good environnement for modding, i totally agree with you, but wrath of the lich King was the official version from 2008 to 2010.

In my mind, modders have to follow the players, not the reverse.

[Chase]

In my mind, modders have to follow the players, not the reverse.

Exactly, I see all this cool amazing content that never gets used because everyone is off playing higher expansion servers.

But anyway, I do think we should get a better website. Who even owns superparanoid.de?

[stoneharry]

In my mind, modders have to follow the players, not the reverse.

Exactly, I see all this cool amazing content that never gets used because everyone is off playing higher expansion servers.

But anyway, I do think we should get a better website. Who even owns superparanoid.de?

Again, I disagree. Make a good server and the players will come. All these projects are shit quality or never finished.

[Rangorn]

But 3.3.5 graphics look like vomit for me, after playing WoD a lot.

[Krang Stonehoof]

Here are my opinions:

• 1. A better website, not just a forum.
• 2. A easier way for newcomers to understand what's around.
• 3. More detailed tutorials.
• 4. Easier way to find tools.
• 5. A better search function.

1. I think the most important thing is the website and the atmosphere. One of the greatest thing around is that we can see other people progress, which is motivational. I think a homepage would come in handle, where people would actually have quick access to the Tools, Tutorials and others.

2. I think the most problematic thing for a newcomer is to understand what's going on. They heard from a friend that it is possible to get a new HD character model into 3.3.5. They will come around, and of course they will make a new thread asking how instead of searching. They won't even know we call it Retro-porting and others. A detailed tutorial about almost everything would be amazing.

3. I've seen a lot of tutorials which are not really newcomers-friendly. I know sometimes it's a pain the ass to explain something step-by-step, but we shall do it no matter what.

4. Oh, the tools. I think we shall have easier access to them. Going on the 6th page of Resources and Tools thread for a tool is a lot of time wasted.

5. Am I the only one around having problems with searching things around? I always have to go to the 3-4th pages to find exactly what I'm looking for.

[Vlad]

As one of our favorite orcs said..

[Krysík]

"Make a good server and the players will come. All these projects are shit quality or never finished."
I agree with this one, people here should stop doing their solo projects and start working more on a greater projects like Maarum was, that's a big problem in here I think

[abdalrahman9]

"Make a good server and the players will come. All these projects are shit quality or never finished."
I agree with this one, people here should stop doing their solo projects and start working more on a greater projects like Maarum was, that's a big problem in here I think

The problem is that not everyone have the same interests. People might have some ideas on how to run the game that might be drastically different then how others might run theirs. Not everyone meets eye to eye.