Raid is kind of in a weird place.

So before I start to make my points I'm just going to say I've gotten a lot of good points from others that have posted "The current state of raid" posts. Thanks guys.
Anyways, map 7 is almost fresh out of the gate and what do I find when I get on? I find usually about 3-8 players on at any given moment. Sometimes getting 8 players is a lot. I think raid has honestly been hovering around "Getting players but not that many" for a while. I really want raid to be successful but it's not really increasing in playercount, it's kind of just idling. Map 7 was pretty popular for a while, until 3 weeks later and it isn't. I'm not going to blame staff for this because I know it's not your guys's fault. You guys want raid to thrive as much as I do. So I've been kind of doing a little bit of research the past couple of days, and I want to share with you how I think that getting people to play raid, keeps playing it, and playing it as much of the rest of us would work.

First point, attracting new players is a pretty good idea, but a lot of people that do /kit pvp for the first time and walk out of spawn are killed by more experienced players. This scares them off because they most likely lost their only gear and no longer see any point in playing. "oH bUt itS rAid itS sUrvIvAl pvP." I really think newer players should be given some kind of spawn protection when they first walk out, maybe for a minute or so, and maybe they should be given some more guidance when they first join other than the 15 pages long tutorial which WILL scare them away. Maybe just have a message that pops up and says "Spawn protection is now enabled! Don't hit other people or it will go away!" Having proper messages that guide the player and tell them what they should do and what to not do is pretty important. Most people(All people) don't read the book at all. I think raid should be welcoming to newcomers, but also not take away from the fact this is a hardcore game mode. Raid doesn't really give too much guidance when you first join other than that CURSED starter book. These are some simple ideas that would make more players stay for longer.

Next, branding. This is one of the points I've talked about a lot. The way I look at it, Brawl Raid has hundreds of other "survival pvp" servers "just like it". Raid is just advertised as such, "Raid". In my opinion, it's too generic. I can tell you a gamemode that isn't generic though. McPvP. Brawl purchased McPvP in 2015, and raid is the successor to mcpvp, but it doesn't feel like it's really trying to be such. Raid in my opinion is wasting the title it has. If a simple rebranding was made to advertise raid as McPvP, and (Maybe?) Make a trailer for map 7 or 8 entitled "The return of McPvP", that alone would attract people to it more than "raid map 7 trailer" would. Kinda clickbait, but not false advertising. McPvP was and IS known as the "Original soup pvp server" Raid is known as "brawl bought mcpvp so now there's raid i guess" I truly believe that if the brawl staff team were to rebrand raid into mcpvp and possibly change some mechanics to be more like mcpvp, I think it would be doing much better. My point is, make raid less generic and make it into the powerhouse mcpvp was. A cheap, simple solution that might not be as effective as just buying sponsorships, but it would still attract the original mcpvp veterans AND would attract people that have heard of it among the years. I don't really want to mention mcteams that much but that's how I found mcteams when it came back. I just saw "McTeams is coming back" and looked up mcteams and started to play. I feel like I've written too much for this paragraph and it's kind of turning into a unorganized rant, but whatever.

Then there's the mechanics. I'll admit, I'm not the best person to write this. I'm not necessarily the most experienced with a lot of these things. I'll still try my best to explain what I want changed. A lot of people don't like 1.8 at all. I'm for 1.8, I think it's the best version of minecraft for raid. However, there are some things we could change that would make raid more like mcpvp, and bring back some nostalgia. This sounds a bit contradictory, I know, mcpvp is a hardcore server and I also want more lenience to the new players, but I think there can be a balance. I personally think we should expand on pre-existing mechanics and maybe make them have more depth. This is kind of a weird idea but I'll throw it out there: A new tracker variety. Maybe a new tracker that tracks 100 per block. It would change the game a lot and how experienced players play it, and would also provide more depth and something to freshen things up. Maybe we could have a new event like the sumo tournament, but more competitive like koths. Perhaps we could have pvp deathmatch tournaments similar to the EOTM event of map 6, but every week. I'm all for adding new events and new (very well tested and balanced) mechanics that would spice up the game and add more depth.

Another thing to gloss over is burnout. Sometimes you get tired of the raid gamemode because you've been playing it for years and there isn't anything new to do. We've all been there. That's why I think we should add new events and new mechanics to make people invested again. A pvp deathmatch that everyone could participate in would be an excellent way to attract the new players to participate and could make them stay.

Making events more beginner friendly would be a good way to attract people to raid and make them start playing it. New people cant even compete, so its not even an attraction to them. Making new BIG mechanics such as a new tracker type or something more interesting would make people no longer suffer from burnout and would make raid much more exciting. Also when I say please add new mechanics PLEASE don't add something like the dragon egg. The dragon egg is not what I would consider a balanced mechanic haha.

Anyways it's getting late and I'm getting tired of writing, I'll be responding to comments so please offer up your ideas below, it's great to hear from you guys. I might've contradicted myself a couple times but I'm tired. I don't want to act like I'm going to single handedly revive raid with this one forum post, but I really think some of the methods I've listed would help significantly.

 

This wasn't meant as something I really wanted, that was more of an example. Like I said, I'm not the best person to talk about mechanics. All I want is for pre-existing mechanics to be expanded on.

 

Yeah, I think a lot of people just quit if they die. They do /kit, get gear, walk outside of spawn, and get killed very quickly. I think a lot of the people that are staying are the ones that managed to escape spawn and make a base.