Review my server - Give improvements, Earn money!

[Vilsike]

Hello MCM!

There has been some changes to a server that I had purchased a few months back. During that time, I have added it to a network and slapped on another SMP gamemode to it, in hopes my community would enjoy something new and become more active. After releasing the other server and connecting it all to bungee, I found that my community really frowned upon it and overall stopped playing. So, I am now at a roadblock and looking for guidance on where my server falls short.

Now before we begin, I know that it's a generic survival server. I bought it in hopes of changing the activity of it and going from there. I believe there is still hope for it.

SurvivalServer is a 1.18.1 SMP with:

15 Custom Jobs
30 Levels
Envoys
Grief Protection
Token Shop

Feel free to check it out and let me know what could improve, what you would change, and what I am doing right or wrong.

Server IP: play.survivalserver.org
Server Store: store.survivalserver.org
Discord: discord.survivalserver.org

Those with valid and helpful criticism please DM me your PayPal / CashApp for $5.00 for your review

Honey

Post automatically merged: Jan 7, 2022

Note: Yea, tab is broken. NameGradient broke for me and I haven’t been home to fix it.

 

[otDan]

So I just joined to look into it a bit, the immediate thing I can notice is that the color choices are not really the best and can make it hard to read for some players, especially the scoreboard and that's always on your screen so you might wanna look into changing that and adding more contrast (especially it being a 1.16+ server and having access to more colors). Second thing I notice is that some old exploits are not patched that make it easy for your server to be crashed and possibly have people dupe stuff. I can add that the modes you are trying to run are not really the most player attracting ones without good marketing behind it, I see that sinking more money into it is not a good solution but that's the only thing I can think about that you could do, player retention could also be hard with what you are hosting but that's definitely not the problem now as the first thing you have to focus on is getting the players to join anyway.

 

[Vilsike]

So I just joined to look into it a bit, the immediate thing I can notice is that the color choices are not really the best and can make it hard to read for some players, especially the scoreboard and that's always on your screen so you might wanna look into changing that and adding more contrast (especially it being a 1.16+ server and having access to more colors). Second thing I notice is that some old exploits are not patched that make it easy for your server to be crashed and possibly have people dupe stuff. I can add that the modes you are trying to run are not really the most player attracting ones without good marketing behind it, I see that sinking more money into it is not a good solution but that's the only thing I can think about that you could do, player retention could also be hard with what you are hosting but that's definitely not the problem now as the first thing you have to focus on is getting the players to join anyway.

Hello!

thanks for the review. I think after reading this I’ve come to the realization of a few things.

• The two servers should be separate and marketed separately due to low player count (as it was before)
• I need to change up the color schemes

can you elaborate on the exploits? I noticed when you joined my server went into flames. Also send me your cashapp or PayPal

 

[Heliosk]

Hey there!

I joined both the Mystical & SMP servers; here's the most notable criticisms/recommendations I can give:

- Firstly regarding Cosmetics - it's a great addition that should most definitely be kept and expanded upon if possible. It's the best way for your server to be EULA compliant and never have to worry about Mojang coming after you if the player-base & popularity of your servers increase exponentially by offering non PTW items for players to purchase. And as I said, it's a feature that can always be improved and added on to as players begin unlocking them and wanting fresh or better looking cosmetics (as long as your cosmetic plugin is configurable to do so).

- Crates - The crate system on the Mystical server could use some improvements. The percentages to receive high-tier items are a bit extreme compared to rare or common. As your playerbase increases, you could then begin to lower the percentages as more and more players start to purchase keys. That way, you can easily entice players at the beginning to want to spend their money on a crate. Also, it wouldn't hurt to throw in some unique cosmetics into your crates as well. If there's one thing players love, it's being able to flex a unique asset that most other members of the server won't have.

- Shard Shop - I think the shard shop is honestly set up pretty perfectly. The prices are reasonable for everything in it, considering how shards seem to be quite a rarity to come by.

- Mystical Survival Overall Review - It's got everything there to be a successful part of your network. The core gameplay seems unique and entertaining enough to maintain and grow a community of dedicated players. The key to having them stick around will also come down to providing regular content updates and changes to the server as players reach end-game. Whether that's through an exciting PvP Arena update, maybe a dungeon with custom model mobs & boss fights along with exciting high tier rewards, etc. If you look at any MMORPG out there today that garners millions of daily players; they're able to do so and not only maintain those numbers but grow by providing them with a constant flow of new enjoyable content. Even the smallest additions or changes will be enough at the beginning to show players that the server is constantly growing along with the community; thus your players will more than likely feel inclined to stick around and see what new excitements await.

- SMP Survival Overall Review - Once again, pretty much the same as my mystical survival review other than a few factors. It seems like you're most definitely hitting the mark here with content updates; considering you have a Santa Grotto event currently running for the holiday season; players always love any sort of special holiday event! The amount of jobs you have to offer is great to start with, and is one of the key components that can be expanded upon in the future if you're able to find a Developer capable of doing so (or if the plugin configuration file allows for new additional jobs). Sadly all of the crates here would most definitely be considered P2W...but this can be avoided or lessened through the use of cosmetics. Personally for my survival server, I offer my players a mix of both cosmetics, money pouches, and other items that balance everything out just enough to not seem as overwhelmingly P2W. ItemsAdder is a great resource for creating a wide variety of custom assets that players could win from a crate; whether it be wings, custom armor textures, pretty much anything your mind can imagine this plugin is capable of creating in a Spigot environment without the use of any mods - only a resource pack your players would have to download upon joining to be able to see the custom assets.

- Marketing - Outreaching and finding a community is most definitely one of the most grueling aspects of starting a server up. Discord bots or other means of automatic outreach sadly rarely ever end up working in the long run, and this is because it's trying to contact players that may not even be interested in any of the gamemodes your server has to offer. The best thing you can do is seriously just word of mouth on every single MC platform available. Reddit has a butt load of different subcategories relating to MC servers; whether it's r/AdminCraft r/mcservers, etc. They're extremely active, and always have both server Owners and players looking for a community. 9/10 times I look for a server, I completely avoid the usual server listing sites and go to notable MC forum related sites (because I realize that owners literally pay to have there server on top, which doesn't mean that they're a good server; only that they have enough money to pay out the wazoo for top shelf advertising.) Now a thread made by the owner themselves, with loads of replies and discussions ocurring; that's worth clicking on. Actively advertising your server in the MCMarket chat and keeping the IP in your profile bio on most sites including this one is another one of the best ways to do the above mentioned tactic of marketing. Hell, before you even started asking people for reviews I genuinely noticed the IP in your bio after hovering over your name in the MCMarket chat and hopped on just to see what everything was about; even hoping there was a small community there that I could join up with (sadly not the case currently of course ) . It just goes to show that people will passively/organically find and join your community the more you talk about it and showcase it normally, and the more your players begin to talk about it to their friends/on other platforms as well.

I hope you found my review helpful; there's lots more I could recommend or give constructive criticism on - but I didn't wanna drag this on forever and make you read an absolutely massive wall of text lol!

 

[otDan]

Hello!

thanks for the review. I think after reading this I’ve come to the realization of a few things.

• The two servers should be separate and marketed separately due to low player count (as it was before)
• I need to change up the color schemes

can you elaborate on the exploits? I noticed when you joined my server went into flames. Also send me your cashapp or PayPal

I can give you more details about the exploits in private, as obviously it's not a good think to talk about publicly even though it may be very known ones.