I feel the need to post my thoughts and suggestions for a few days now, because in discord they'll all just get lost.
It's also very hard to do because I see a lot of contraversion going on with the goal of the server. Unless I understand what the goal is, it's really hard to suggest something but I'll take it that you want to make it more harder and griendier.
I'll start with the things I don't quite like and also try to provide some suggestions. This is all my personal point of view also taking into account what other players have said.
THE NEGATIVES:
1) QUARRIES - it was said by some people including admins that there are no quarries and yet all the quarries are working perfectly fine. Not only that, but also marauders base has an extra PJ, and there are additional 3 marauders quarries which produce stone/sulfur/frags/hqm all at the same time. I also understand that these extra quarries is a custom map thing. Since PJ's are not a problem and they can be bought in store, the quarries can get stuffed pretty quickly and very frequently. So the suggestion would be to tweak production output. 1/10th of what they're producing now, requiring the same amount of input would be challenging enough. So if on pure in 8 hours hqm quarry is able to produce 3k hqm, make it 300, or 500 ... it's not much, but it's with the intent to help a bit to the grinded amount instead of making you rich on the second day of wipe. The current returns work great for PVP and non-instanced quarries as they need to produce ridiculous amounts for the time given someone is actually there and is risking all his loot. That's not the case with PVE and instanced quarries however, so a reduction of output would be more balanced for PVE servers. I know I know I can just not use them but what's the point of me not using them if everyone else is.
2) STACK SIZE - I feel like the stack sizes are too large so it's very easy to carry huge amounts of loot. If the goal is to make it harder, I'd suggest lowering those stack amounts so people would really appreaciate what's worth more to them to carry in those runs. They mostly apply to raw material like ores and wood. I guess it's ok if you want to do some deforestation. It would be ideal though if you could carry the large stacks but furnaces and pumpjacks and quarries wouldn't allow you to exceed the vanilla amounts.
3) CH47 locked crates - locked crates also need to be nerfed a bit. If you see point 4 then there's an option to add some patrolling scientists to the crates to add some challenge.
4) NPCs at monuments - as I wrote already on discord, then the creator of this map has intended custom monuments to be patrolling by scientists (or marauders in this case). The plugin is called "BetterNPC" and it costs 30$ which I offered to be taken entirely from me. Scientists in these monuments are crucial and adds more to the gameplay. The scientists are totally configurable in terms of guns they have, hp and etc. It also can be used on other servers and next maps to come but I feel that it's a must have. Otherwise those monuments feel a bit empty. Also, some people have aggreed that those marauders patroling there would be an awesome addition. Also I'm aware that would cost some extra time which you may not have. But I feel like having to configure a few general groupsets is a one time thing. If you want I can explore the possibilities a little deeper.
5) Fast crafting / recycling - well I think this needs to go. Craft times also adds to the game - either you need a mixing table to craft large amounts of bullets, gp or you just insant craft it youself. Kinda breaks the experience a little. It's not like I need to instant craft stuff on the fly in the field nor I can do it without a workbench most of the time.
The POSITIVES :
1) Custom map - First and foremost THE MAP IS AMAZING. Like really really amazing, no doubt about it. Hands down the best map I've ever played.
2) NET WORTH a.k.a. SHOP - having the net worth is great. It adds some more possibilities to players who already have everything. It would be awesome if you could add raidable bases to the shopping list sometime in the future.
3) BRAD/HELI LOOT - brad/heli loot is nerfed down and that's really great. I feel that that the M2 and L96 % needs to be a liiiitle bit lower though.
4) No portable recycler - I'm totally cool with that but I suggest giving 1 recycler free for VIP's to be placed in their base. That would be fair to cover the VIP perks given that there's no portable one.
5) DECAY - decay is a fundamental mechanic of the game. I hate to reapeat myself but PURE also must have decay
6) FUEL - there has to be a fuel requirement. I'm glad that no-fuel is not planned on this server.
7) Subscriber only - subscriber only feature works great as there is no need for an admin to help with rule breakers. Also I'd suggest to open up the server to non-subscribers a day or two before the wipe like it was suggested and done previously as that could bring a bit more players in.
GENERAL:
I was able to acquire 2 HMLMG's, 2 bolties, countless AK's with other high-tier stuff from CH47 locked crates by 6th hour in the wipe, build a tower and take down 3 patrol helis in the next few hours. So the general assumption that the crates need to be a little nerfed and have lower % of high-tier loot comes from that. OR they need to be protected by patrolling scientists, so the crates are not so easy to get to.
I may have forgotten a few things, but these are the main points running through my mind.
Thank you for your work and the best community in Rust history!
