Forbin_Project
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Posts
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Quote:It's never a good idea to ask that. The answer never makes sense and then they get mad as everyone points that out. Then they start making accusations and hurling insults.Originally Posted by Mr_Body
Why do you see lower population servers as something that needs to be fixed? -
Quote:Every year there is a lull that starts in September as players return to school and start college and get adjusted to their new schedules.Originally Posted by JenniferJ
1)Well having read all the responses ranging from intelligent to the annoyingly smug.How then do you suggest COH go about getting more people to be active on certain servers?OK forget the kill a server idea/thought whatever..got another idea?Or do you think this is just a temporary lull/the pre-ae boom time in player activity?
Every time there is a new game released there is a lull for about the first month as players pause to try the new flavor of the month. Both CO and Aion went live in September.
The devs are already doing what needs to be done by constantly releasing new issues as well as a new paid expansion. -
Quote:They are like roaches. They get into everything.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Didn't they all quit to play CO?
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Quote:You forgot one.Originally Posted by IronLung1169
My top 5 reasons to have player from around the world on the same servers:
1. Super Groups can gain prestiege 24 hours a day
2. Less Servers means more money for bigger and better updates
3. More players means it will be easier to team
4. More chances to PVP
5. More opportunities to play if you can't sleep at night.
6. Players from other countries are often better at communicating in English than the knuckledragging inbred L33tspeakers born and raised on the booger farms of the bayou in the US. -
Quote:What would be the point? You don't actually think that the NA players are going to refuse to make characters on 4 new servers. We're not all Freedom snobs. Most of us like making alts on other servers and many of us would happily welcome 48 more slots.Originally Posted by Ethric
What would be the point of server list merging if it leads to EU players moving to US servers for a better connection?
(Note: not all Freedom Players are Freedom snobs. Just the ones that refuse to make alts on other servers.) -
Quote:Zukunft means Future in German.Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
And we get one called "Zukunft", which probably means something utterly mundane in German but looks excellent and intimidating to the non-German-speaker.
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Quote:Let's make sure we understand one thing here. The whole "your characters don't know each other" isn't the players excuse. We were told that by the devs. People have been asking for a global bank for 5 years, and for 5 years that has been the devs reason for not giving it to us, when they bother to say anything about it more than "We're aware of what you want and are looking at it."Originally Posted by Dispari
Your analogy and canon explanation would hold up if it wasn't possible to trade inf at all. But it is. It doesn't matter what canon explanation you come up with for not being able to trade inf from your Blaster to your Defender, because at the end of the day you can still trade inf from your Blaster to your friend, who trades it to your Defender.
Absolutely nothing stops people from transferring inf from one character to another on the same account. There's just an extra step. If there WERE a canon reason why you couldn't do it, you wouldn't be able to trade inf with ANYONE, because the logic is identical. You can come up with "the characters don't know eachother" excuses or "it's not real money" reasons, but those can and would apply to you trading with anybody, not just your own characters.
The only thing a bank would do would eliminate the middleman and make trading more fluid. It wouldn't allow anything that isn't already possible with extra steps. If you want to press the "your characters don't know eachother" concept, that's a player-made decision, not a dev decision. Let the player decide if they want to limit themselves thusly. -
Quote:I think we are going about this the wrong way. I think we should handle this issue like professional sports teams do.Originally Posted by Eric Nelson
For this reason, I support the idea of bringing the EU servers into the current mix, so that ALL players could play with all other CoX players.
Here's what we do. We sit the NA and EU servers down and we trade Freedom to the EU servers and in return they give us Defiant, Union, and Zukunft.
Everybody wins. They get the highest pop server in the game, and we get rid of Freedom.
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I think we are going about this the wrong way. I think we should handle this issue like professional sports teams do.
Here's what we do. We sit the NA and EU servers down and we trade Freedom to the EU servers and in return they give us Defiant, Union, and Zukunft.
Everybody wins. They get the highest pop server in the game, and we get rid of Freedom. -
Quote:Sorry. You have my sincere apology. I thought you were directing a snark at anyone disagreeing with your position, rather than making a general observation.Originally Posted by Prez1
Did you even read what I stated.....
I read the rules AFTER your post.
I was not aware of that rule #4 until after I posted.
Things like that happen failrly often down in the suggestion forums when someone quotes the forum guidelines.
Again I apologize for misunderstanding. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Prez1
@Forbin
Interesting, I actually went and read the rules after
your post.
5. Non-Constructive posts are prohibited.
* A rant is a post which is long-winded, redundant and filled with angry, non-constructive comments. A free exchange of ideas is essential to building a strong sense of community and helpful in the development of the game, but rants are disruptive and incite flaming and trolling. Please post your thoughts in a concise, clear manner and avoid going off on rambling tangents.
* "NERF X!" threads are removed for much the same reason as "I'm leaving" threads. They can turn into threads with little or no constructive information.
*Threads that make threats or use other combative language are not allowed. If you ask a question on the board, be aware that questions on our boards are most commonly answered by the community. Demands for answers from NCsoft are not permitted, however we may often address some questions and concerns with an official topic. In the event of legitimate emergencies, or other unprecedented scenarios, we will endeavor to provide comments, even if it is only to state that there is no officially available information.
Funny, these boards would be deserted if this was enforced.
You read them and still choose not to follow them. Why am I not surprised. -
Quote:There are people out there that are trying to use the /search to support their arguments that the game is dying, or to justify a server merge. So everytime we see someone quoting /search we are going to speak up and point out that those numbers are grossly innaccurate and don't represent the actual number of people online.Originally Posted by Big_cuban
Just an FYI..... Anyone Hidden really doesn't want to team with you, unless they got ya on a freinds list or on a global/SG list.
So.... the 8-10 that team with you that are hidden.... don't wanna team with the rest of us. True? They are hidden, arent they?
BC
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Quote:Originally Posted by LordSquigie
Since I didn't have any numbers available I erred on the side of caution. Do you have any statistics for the Axis powers?
The only numbers I stumbled across concerning the third reich was under female nazi war criminals. I'm guessing that aside from the guards the Germans used women in similar roles as the other nations. Russia I think was the exception and that was out of desperation. Too many men had been killed or captured fighting the Germans. -
Quote:I'll support killing Freedom.Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
People, let's not be so hasty. You are suggesting that they kill Freedom, right?
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Quote:Originally Posted by Eric Nelson
And your contention that paying for a server transfer is "a f'ing joke" is ridiculous -- go check out what other online games charge for character server transfers sometime...I think you'll appreciate the (relatively) nominal cost we pay now.
WoW charges $25 - $30 each
SWG and EverQuest is $50 each -
Quote:Originally Posted by Big_cuban
just a (PopWatch) update:
Victory:
Oct 2 2009 1535 hrs Central
117(characters availible to team with.)(blank search)
estimated hidden(+50% of blank search)
58.5
Total
175.5
3 x looking for missions(range 9-40)
%looking or characters willing to team or flagged for teaming
1.7094017094017094017094017094017
%not looking or those that don't wanna team with you
allot
If ya follow the "can't people read when it say's, (not looking for team)", then I say most... +90% aren't looking for a team if you use search.
BC
You do realize that you don't have access to the datamining tools that will give you an accurate representation of the actual population at any given time . . . right?
We already know that /search is grossly inaccurate and pay no attention to anyone that uses it to justify their arguments. -
Quote:Good you caught that I was just baiting you.Originally Posted by Maverick_Babylon
LOL you stupi...
No seriously, I left here amicably the first time I was just bored and not too interested in AE so got into beta testing Champions.
<ahem>
Then the nerd rage occured over on Champions for sure, very frustrating, and nerd rage is not the word for it... no, what I experienced was more of a cataclysmic multidimensional geek explosion is far closer to what I experienced.
Not only that; the community there is nothing compared to what Cox has for a friendly community base.
Yeah the CO forums was explosive. A festering pit of venom and bile when it was at it's worst. -
Quote:Actually yes it does have everything to do with unique naming. In this game the GM's only have to deal with one person at a time using clone names. In CO the GM's can't keep up with them because there are quite literally hundreds if not thousands of them using the same names.Originally Posted by Johnny_Velocity
I'm sorry you feel the need to call me a liar. I would hope that you would refrain from that in the future.
However, what you describe has nothing to do with unique naming. What you describe is common to both games. Unless drastic changes have been made to CO since the end of closed beta, it would be impossible for people to have those names you describe - Cryptic's name filter would have prevented it, and it was quite draconian in its application.
The truth is they were lax about enforcing the issue during beta because they deleted all of the beta testers characters before it went live. It did nothing to stop the playerbase from creating thousands of new clones the day it went live.
The filter's can only block what's on the list. They can't anticipate every permutation, which is why they fail. They may block Hulk but they may not block H U L K. Then before you know it and can add it to the list there are dozens if not hundreds of H U L K's and each one then needs to be genericed individually. No game has enough GM's to keep up with it. -
Quote:The real entertainment during a 2xp weekend is reading the forums for the whiners complaining that they can't get onto Freedom, and the bizarre logic they use when making suggestions that are supposed to "fix" the problem.Originally Posted by GrinningSpade
I never had the pleasure to log onto Freedom or Virtue on Double Xp weekends. So I will have to take your word for the necessity. Never had any overcrowding here in the EU and my trial in the US did not make me believe that such was necessary!
Of course, now I must check out one of these servers next double XP weekend.
I remember one doofus that actually tried arguing that the only way to solve Freeedom's overpopulation problem would be to shut down the low pop servers.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill CopypastaOriginally Posted by JenniferJ
1)2)Kill a server.Now that the AE controversy hype (and overhype) has died down some servers are dead again and some stayed dead even during the AE "gold rush".Isn't it about time everyone on dead server(s) was/were moved from one to another.Im not saying kill alot of em but 1 MAYBE 2 would help.You neutered AE to urge people to get back to teaming (and force people to work for a living lol) but while it worked for some servers, others it didnt.
Just my opinion..but I think the first one shouldve been done a long time ago...opinions?
Why server consolidation is not a good idea.
Welcome to the forum. You have posted one of the oft repeated suggestions, "Consolidate the servers."
Disclaimer
Yes. This is a cut and paste reply that I keep handy, as well as a quick bit of instruction on how to search. Neither are meant to cause fights or to be insulting. The search instructions are in, not just because forum rules say flat out to search, but to help you and anyone else reading this use the search tool effectively.
The body of the cut and paste reply is the way it is because we've seen these arguments numerous times before. They're a summary of the salient points that come up each time. They are not here to insult you, make you feel stupid or otherwise "bring you down a peg." Instead, they are meant as instruction and information. Please read through the points and the explanation behind them to see the issues that are commonly brought up in response. They may not always match your suggestion 100% - in fact, you may have explained around one or two of them - but they're there for consideration and refinement of your idea.
Yes, I do look forward to the time, with some of these suggestions, that someone not only addresses all the points, but does so exceptionally well. It'll probably be added to the end of the cut/paste reply, with credit. For now, though, read and consider the points. They really are just there to help you, and move discussion along to help ideas evolve.
If you're going to see this and say an "evil forum vet is just shooting down your idea," or "You think you're the last word because of your post count," you're wrong. Heck, if you say the second, you've just worried more about my post count than I have in the last four plus years. Tongue-in-cheek comments in here are meant as hummor, not put downs.
TL,DR section.
First, my stock answer, one which I stand by and repeat with all due fervor. HELL NO.
Searching effectively
1. Click on "Search" up at the top of the forum.
2. On the left, under "Forum(s) to search," select "Suggestions and ideas."
3. On the right, Keyword Search Terms. This is probably where your problem was if you did search. Try the following, exactly as typed:
+server -pvp -"re: "
This will search for anything with "Server" in the title, including Servers, Combine Servers, Consolidate Servers, and The Server At Mcdonalds Is Rude. it will eliminate "PVP," so you won't see PVP server requests, and the -re: portion of it removes replies, so you'll see the root of every thread that comes up, letting you see just how many threads there are on this. (The last helps for other subjects, as well.)
4. Click the "In subject" radio button. This is a search, not a cute blonde in a bikini. Here, you want to ignore the body.
5. Leave Username Search blank.
6. Date range, Newer Than, change the 1 to a 3, and the time to Months.
7. Result format doesn't matter. Click on "Submit."
As I try this now, (12/3/08,) we have:
Consolidate Server
Server Stats RSS Feed
$server modifier ofr chat
Fix the forum server
Earlyissue server
Merging low population server
Combine slow server
Server status
Global chat on the Character and Server Screens
Rated M server
Add Ponies, Nerf Vills, merge Servers, PistolMelee
Server Visiting
Display Central Time on Server Status Page
Ignoring the smartalec reply, that's three full discussions about this topic.
You should have read one of them if (inevitably) something similar comes up in your search.
Now, on to the topic at hand....
Why server consolidation is not a good idea.
1. Just because YOU like living in New York City doesn't mean I can't like Kansas.
Yay, you love having huge lag spikes as you get near the black market/wentworths and a busy broadcast. Congrats. Enjoy Freedom. Some of us - many of which you will get replies from with this subject - like *low population* servers. If we *wanted* to be on Freedom, we'd *be* on Freedom.
I have characters on Freedom. I rarely play them (and actually moved a character OFF of Freedom to finish leveling it to 50) because *I DON'T LIKE FREEDOM.* I dislike the banality of broadcast, the high percentage of *horrid* teams I've come across there, the lag around any gathering point- and I've got a decent connection and system. For much the same reason, I typically startin Galaxy City instead of Atlas Park - I don't *want* to log in to a costume contest with several 50s spamming powers and nonsense arguments in broadcast.
Some of us *like* nice, quiet servers.
2, Kansas, part 2.
In addition, servers have their own personalities. No, I don't mean that literally, there's no AI to worry about if you start hearing "Daisy, Daisy" over your speakers or headset. Freedom's a crowded mess. Virtue is the RP server. Pinnacle is the "Drunk" server. Others have specific communities, such as those from Australia/NZ, Europe, etc.
3. "I only saw one other person. World of Conancraft has eleventy billion!"
So what?
We don't run around camping spawn points in this game. People are in missions. People are spread across many zones. Search on a map or do a /whoall and you'll miss those in missions, as well as those who are, for whatever reason, on /hide. Your "search" there didn't give you a full picture, not in the least.
I understand the "feel" of things being "not very populated," but take a good look around when you're in game. Typically, you don't really have a lot of visibility. Standing in steel canyon, there could be multiple, full 8 person groups surrounding you, and it's likely you'd never see them. We have buildings, walls, architecture, trees and more limiting our visibility. Yes, it can make you feel more alone... but that's rarely the case. Add to that that the population is spread between many, MANY zones, most quite large, and among two sides... well...
4. "I put up my LFT flag and nothing happened!"
Learn to search. Don't just wait. Form a team yourself.
5. "I AM SPARTACUS!" No, not any more.
Remember logging in and seeing all those slots? Everyone has those - some buy more than the base 12, you get an extra one each year, you could have a total of 36 on any server. Everyone does. Every one has a character with a unique name. Maybe not a *good* name, but a unique one. Every one has a character with a unique name. Maybe not a *good* name, but a unique one.
Now merge servers. Suddenly, CoolBlasterDude from server 1 is getting merged with CoolBlasterDude from Server 2. Who gets to keep their name? Nobody has been able to answer this with any degree of satisfaction. Add a number? But I am NOT CoolBlasterGuy1. And what if the name's too long? Does the older character keep it? What if they're not as active?
People are *VERY* attached to their names. They are, quite obviously, part of their character.
6. "This Is SPARTA!" Sorry, Sparta exists already. You are GenericSG 8734 287 9798.
What else has a name? Supergroups. And I can *guarandamntee* that the same name is in use on multiple servers. Sometimes it's 'branches' of the same SG, sometimes it's coincidence. But with *everything* involved in an SG - from its identity and reputation on the server, to everything stored in the database about what it owns, what its base is like and such, this would be a disaster in the making. And no, auto merging them when the servers merge, even if they have room to, is not an option.
This, of course, assumes that they *CAN* move supergroups as a unit. More than likely, it'd just be a mass character move, with bases, prestige, anything stored in bases and all SG affiliations just gone forever.
7. "I am... where'd Spartacus go?"
Remember all those slots? Well, you start with 1/3 of the available ones. You can buy up to 36 total (24 on top of the ones you get initially.) Now, what do you suppose would happen if you merged two servers, and someone has, say, 20 characters on each? Not unusual. In fact, before those extra slots, I had *filled up* several servers. Do those characters just disappear? Do they move? Free move to another server sounds great, right... well, except you now kick them from their supergroup, remove them from their friends lists and more. This makes for angry and unhappy customers. Or rather, ex customers.
8. I will play where I damn well want to. And you can too.
And that should be blunt enough. If I want a crowded server, I'll go to Freedom. If I want an RP server, I'll go to Virtue. I do NOT want to be shoved onto another server I *don't* like. If I wanted to go there, *I'd be there.*
If the server you're on isn't "busy" enough for you, you have two options that won't bother anyone else.
(A) If it's low enough, reroll. You have a ton of character slots for a reason.
(B) If you don't want to reroll, server transfers are available, and relatively cheap. They also finish fast - you should be up and running and being spammed to join someone's SG on the new server in a few minutes, in most instances. So YOU can go to the server of YOUR choice without screwing ME over.
9. "It'll free up server hardware for Freedom!" No, no it won't.
Freedom, because of the load it tends to have, already has more resources dedicated to it than other servers. And ALL of the servers have been upgraded multiple times. The servers are not allocated exactly the same. The servers that handle less of a load have less dedicated to them. So this argument doesn't fly.
10. DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Last but not least (at least until better points come along to be added,) server consolidation is widely viewed in the industry as an MMO going on life support. No, we don't have WoWs numbers (and you should actually pay attention to when and how they got those.) They're an abberation in the MMO industry. COH has had and does have a very successful, sustainable population even at its lowest points, so there's no economic need to combine anything. The flip side of that, of course, has been suggested above - you crowd people together, break up their SGs and friends lists, cause characters to go missing and poeple definitely *will* quit, both out of annoyance and a sense of "The game is almost dead!"
In conclusion....
As stated before, when it comes to server consolidation... HELL NO. -
Damn! I coulda been the meat in a Red Valkyrja/Zekiran_Immortal post sandwhich.
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Quote:Just an FYI, Your information is incorrect. You may be unaware of this but in the Soviet Union women fought in larger numbers in front line roles. Over 800,000 women served their Motherland in World War II; nearly 200,000 of them were decorated and 89 of them eventually received the Soviet Unions highest award, the "Hero of the Soviet Union". They served as pilots, snipers, machine gunners, tank crew members and partisans, as well as in auxiliary roles.Originally Posted by LordSquigie
5th Column and Council - Women fought, in small numbers, on both sides in WWII.
Way off topic:
IMHO Women rock as soldiers, and the US has done them a great disservice by preventing them the honor of fighting side by side with us guys for so many years. -
Quote:Unfortunately for you, you chose to play "City of Heroes" which has a unique naming policy. You don't have to like it, but if you want to play you will have to live with it.Originally Posted by Johnny_Velocity
No thanks. I do not have to conform to your way of thinking.
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Quote:Don't bald face lie about the threads on the CO forums. Several of us have active accounts there, and I can verify there have been several threads complaining about the number of people making dozens of Batman's, Ironman's, Wolverines, Hulks, Dr Stranges, Deadpools, etc.Originally Posted by Johnny_Velocity
It is one thing to speculate on what the problems might be, but I decided to look around CO's forums to see if people are reporting actual problems. I found mainly positive comments, and no complaints of people using the feature to spoof people or harass them (with one limited exception described below). Nor were people complaining that they were seeing multiple people using the same name - I saw two different posters who stated they have seen that happen once apiece. Though limited in scope, and certainly Cryptic's petitions on the issue would be more definitive than forum poster complaints, this more or less confirms my gut: fears of harassment or multitudes of clones are misplaced - it just doesn't happen that often.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Maverick_Babylon
Hey bud, dont take that particular post to heart. I read it and almost left a nasty reply to it. i thought it was a little nasty. Sometimes that happens on these forums, heck sometimes I do it.
Good to have you backin CoX I seem to think the server pops are down too. There's been alot of changes since I left to go play Champions last year, and lets face it the game is aging. Subs might be up according to the NC Soft, but up from when? 1 month ago? 2 months ago? they are certainly down from 3 or 4 years ago, and thats to be expected as an MMO ages, the first few years the pop grows while the game is fresh and popular, the next few years the game server pop slowly declines as new games come out and people move on. heck I left for the better part of a year to try other games and came back after realizing that I was trying to compare all these other games to CoX so I just stopped paying to try other games and came back. its comfortable its fun and now its soloable too. Go to a field Analyst and set it to solo if you cant find anyone to team with and you'll have fun.
P.S. Dont pay any attnetin to the snarky posts with people offering advice on how you can stop annoying them, this is a free country you annoy whomever you want I do and I enjoy doing it.
Translation: Maverick quit this game in a nerdrage to go play Champions and after that game went live he quit CO in another fit of nerdrage because CO doesn't measure up to this game.