What do you want from a FTB server?

[Taelii]

Hey everyone, my friend is creating a new FTB server and has asked me to help. We need some ideas before we start building the HUB and what not.

What do you want from a server?
A nice bright HUB?
What activities?
Jail?
Donator zone?

We've though of using the 'Sphere' command (half of the sphere will be unground so it's like a dome) to create an area for maybe a big battlefield death match type of thing with score boards and stuff if it's possible, thoughts?

I've been trying to do a lot of research by looking at other servers to see what's popular and what is unpopular, is there anything in particular you'd really want from a server?

Kind Regards

Taelii

 

[Krhymez]

First off, you dont want to have a "donator zone" this it single out your non-donators and they may not play on the server.

You dont need a bright HUB, just a simple spawn area where players can load in with ease. Meaning dont fill it with mod items that cause lag for players.

Get Greif Prevention (gold shovel claim)
Have a Toggle pvp pluggin for those players that want to play in peace.
Get a market plugin like Global market
Ranks for player ontime
NO favoritism to any of the players and make sure none of your staff abuse admin commands.
Have a world border with a decent size world, this is key to reduce future performance issues.
If you want to look at a good server/servers check out the Mineyourmind servers, they have a very nice set up.

 

[TheEpic5]

Servers where people actually work together (E.G: Minecrack) and help each other, either directly or inderectly.

 

[mc.crab]

Pretty much what Krhymez and TheEpic5 said except that i'd change Grief Preventation to MyTown2

In modded servers I don't really see the point of a hub. It's fine if you are ruinning vanilla with minigames, survival and creative. Being able to travel to other players bases makes griefing and stealing quite easy, even if you use some kind of protection. This is just my opinion.

As for the jail.... in my opinion, if you break the rules you are out. No one wants to play with people who grief or steal.

 

[BlockFizix]

First off, you don't want to have a "donator zone" this it single out your non-donators and they may not play on the server.

You dont need a bright HUB, just a simple spawn area where players can load in with ease. Meaning dont fill it with mod items that cause lag for players.

Get Greif Prevention (gold shovel claim)
Have a Toggle pvp pluggin for those players that want to play in peace.
Get a market plugin like Global market
Ranks for player ontime
NO favoritism to any of the players and make sure none of your staff abuse admin commands.
Have a world border with a decent size world, this is key to reduce future performance issues.
If you want to look at a good server/servers check out the Mineyourmind servers, they have a very nice set up.

I agree with everything said here, especially with not having donator zones. And also DONT MAKE DONATORS OVER-POWERED, just give them aesthetic and practical perks such as extra sethomes, some "cash", pets, nickname, etc. You dont want to make your players feel as though they need to pay, to keep up pace, make sure your in-game time ranking system offers the same perks as donation ranks, with a few exceptions. Donations should be obtained from those impatient, or those who truly want to support your server and it's community.
Don't make your HUB and spawns over the top to the point where people get lag, or that are just copied and pasted (some people will recognize this). For me, I'd rather have a smaller, humble spawn that has functionality and doesn't take up so much space. I don't know which modpack you are using, however you'll need to set a spawn zone relatively large 500 x 500, so that the spawn isn't surrounded by griefed terrain.
Encourage spreading out further, include a random tp. A pretty good world border would be around 10k blocks (villages and temples and whatnot will get used up very fast in a small world border).
Playershops and a dedicated pvp arena might be a good addition
Give your players a good starting kit(s) for setting themselves up.
Make sure you and your staff stay active, especially the owner, an active owner is a very attractive trait to a server.
Towny or another land protection pluggins are neccessities for a server that isn't centered on pvp.

 

[malicious_bloke]

Stuff to bombard.

Easygoing people who have an understanding that lag spikes from my horribly oversized firing mechanisms are only temporary and that in the grand scheme of things the smoking crater where their base used to be is more of an issue than some FPS drops for a bit.

Easygoing people who don't start backing away and phoning the police when they recieve an honest answer to the question "Why do you have such a huge villager spawner setup in your basement?"

Also people who will quit whining that i've nicked all the blaze spawners from the nether. A man's gotta make a living innit.

People who don't get offended when their cutesy intricate mine working complete with railcraft transport infrastructure magically develops a branch line that steadily fills their base with sewage pumped from my cow experimentation facility.

People absentminded enough to not notice that i've just turned off the "No PvP" rule in my towny plot while stood behind them with a Pan laden with pistons.

Yeah I tend not to play well with others.

 

[TheEpic5]

Stuff to bombard.

Easygoing people who have an understanding that lag spikes from my horribly oversized firing mechanisms are only temporary and that in the grand scheme of things the smoking crater where their base used to be is more of an issue than some FPS drops for a bit.

Easygoing people who don't start backing away and phoning the police when they recieve an honest answer to the question "Why do you have such a huge villager spawner setup in your basement?"

Also people who will quit whining that i've nicked all the blaze spawners from the nether. A man's gotta make a living innit.

People who don't get offended when their cutesy intricate mine working complete with railcraft transport infrastructure magically develops a branch line that steadily fills their base with sewage pumped from my cow experimentation facility.

People absentminded enough to not notice that i've just turned off the "No PvP" rule in my towny plot while stood behind them with a Pan laden with pistons.

Yeah I tend not to play well with others.

now does your therapist session want to be at 3 or 4?

 

[Imacape]

Personally? I'd enjoy a server containing one modpack, and beyond that no other mods (of course the moderators should be given sufficient power). Beyond that I wouldn't be down for griefing D: in vanilla I don't mind but many machines in these modpacks take ages to build.

 

[OreCruncher]

What makes a great server is the community. Server owners need to attract and cultivate that community. IMO to do this requires:

* A stable server. Sometimes this requires outright banning of some items. It may mean sacrificing some dear things to make it happen. If you do ban an item have a decent rationale for it.
* Stable staff. I'm not joking. I have seen servers go south very fast when the staff gets out of hand. Staff has to treat *all* fairly and evenly.
* Same rules apply to staff as well as players. No exceptions. Players do not like favoritism.
* I have seen server side plugin configurations bring servers down. Selection and tuning of those plugins are as important as the mod-pack you choose.
* Deal with problem players quickly and decisively. It's OK to give second chances, but sometimes you know someone is a bad apple. Treat them as such and get rid of them.

I use the guidelines above when looking for public servers to play on. The modpack is secondary.

 

[malicious_bloke]

owls

 

[LordSlyFox]

One thing I haven't seen said yet, a good modpack. Don't just have a server for let's say, Blast Off. Get a server where players can choose their own fate. While HQM servers can work, ffa servers can do better. And if possible, go big or go small. What i mean by that is, either choose a big popular modpack (Infinity, Departed, etc.) or go small, which is to say make your own modpack. You're own launcher. Hire developers, workers, friends and more, get a community that you made, not a community that you downloaded off of the internet. And one big thing, staff. Staff should consist of adults in the top, and children in the bottom. Give younger people ranks like helper or trial-mod of whatever, Give the adults ranks like Admin and Staff-Manager. You don't only want to have kids as staff, you need them. Because children talk with other children. And they will tell their friends to come check out this cool server that they are staff on. And they will bring fresh, useful insight on what to do. Also, with your developers, don't just believe everyone. Have tryouts, ask for their Skype AND Teamspeak. Teamspeak is for public conversations, Skype is for Private, business inquiries. Ask the developers to make something for you, as a test. Not only is this free tasks being done for you, it's weeding out those who know a little, those you know nothing and are wasting your time, and those you actually know quite a bit and are seriously here to work for you.