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There seems to be more - the Daily Mail competition for example?
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Yes, I was thinking of this and various other things that are happening to raise the games profile in the EU.
I tend to agree that sometimes the game seems empty and other times full, and there are lots of things that affect that (both my perception and the reality).
Im just always disappointed (but not surprised) that people dont offer up suggestions for bringing more people in to the game, rather than just merging the servers. We could point out the best sites to advertise on (i.e. those we, as gamers, check most often for news), new initiatives or events that would attract attention or even other areas of the media that could be used to get more people playing or previous players coming back.
I have to admit, the sites you suggest, such as gaming news, that I read are all based in the US, so that wouldn't be such a good place to advertise for the EU 
Amazon.co.uk and Play.com are good sites, but expensive to advertise on too. (This money thing is what it all comes down to).
Same with cinema screens - before any of the superhero movies that come out this year would be good, but again, the money.
Trying to find somewhere to advertise that isn't expensive but will reach a large audience? Sounds like the holy grail for the advertising industry.
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
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I have to admit, the sites you suggest, such as gaming news, that I read are all based in the US, so that wouldn't be such a good place to advertise for the EU
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hehe why that matter? :O
the Internet is a global thing,does it really matter if "Gamespot"(or any other big gaming site) server is located in the US ?
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yes.. about 18 mnths ago (these were taken from search and written down no screenies) thers was about 550-600 ppl online without hides
12 mnths there was 475-525
6 330
now is about 290
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Is it just me or do these numbers mean absolutely nothing unless the dates and times of day are provided?
There's so much that can effect what we see on search at any given time. Is relation to holidays, exams, 2xXP dates, issue release dates and so on are all taken into account?? I remember hearing the cries of doom back in 2006. And we're still here. 
i think the problem actually is that due to the heavy instancing the game can feel empty, even if it isn't.
don't know if the dev's can change that at this late stage though, feels to me like it would need epic amounts of work.
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I remember hearing the cries of doom back in 2006. And we're still here.
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I remember hearing cries of doom during the first live week in the EU, thanks to the major hardware problem causing lag the likes of which we've never seen on here since! We're still here! 
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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i think the problem actually is that due to the heavy instancing the game can feel empty, even if it isn't.
don't know if the dev's can change that at this late stage though, feels to me like it would need epic amounts of work.
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nah the game always was like this and it didn't feel empty back then...
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If the server population was as low as some people seem to think it is, then they'd drop below financially viable levels, and something would be done about it.
The fact that nothing HAS been done, should tell all you doubters something. There's no way in hell a company wanting to make money, will take a loss on a monthly basis. We know for a FACT that NCSoft can and DO cut their losses, even with CoH. We have Korea as an example of that.
If the EU servers were struggling, they'd have merged or closed them already.
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Not saying they are or they aren't in trouble but it is perfectly possible for the population to be low AND for the game to be still financially viable as we don't know how bad it has to get before it drops below what NCSoft deems acceptable. EU can be struggling without reaching the point of merger or closure, the two aren't mutually exclusive. Obviously Korea crossed that threshold and Europe hasn't yet, assuming they set out the same goals for both areas.
EU may not be even close to the point they'd consider shutting us down but it's somewhat blinkered to say everything's smelling of roses and player population is good. Imo player population is acceptable, but hardly good.
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I have to admit, the sites you suggest, such as gaming news, that I read are all based in the US, so that wouldn't be such a good place to advertise for the EU
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hehe why that matter? :O
the Internet is a global thing,does it really matter if "Gamespot"(or any other big gaming site) server is located in the US ?
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If that's the case, then why does Gamespot have a .uk et al version, rather than just a .com?
Advertising online is usually tailored to the region the website is based in.
There are regional restrictions too (many of the Steam games for example are only available in the US & Canada).
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
I have never played WoW or Everquest, so I have nothing to compare the CoX server population too, but as a Union villain player I really don't get the 'This game is dead: Merge servers or D00M!' threads.
If anything I get the impression there are more people on the servers the last few months than before. Having made plenty of new toons with Issue 12 I have played in a lot of low level PuGs and I noticed a fair amount of new players (you know, those poor fellows without vet rewards) running around.
If you are just going to stand around and wait for a team invite it can take a while, yes. Asking people that are already in a team or creating one yourself will get you a lot further.
@True Metal
Co-leader of Callous Crew SG. Based on Union server.
Ah but once you have played a game were the world is alive that lack can be quite telling.
When I was last on wow 8/9 months ago on a mature server the capital citys were positively crawling with people, the only place that seems to even start to crawl is Atlas you dont see much in the way of dense player numbers anywhere else really even portal can be quiet compared to Atlas.
Teams can be a problem on villains at least until to stumble into the 40s once in that happy band pugs seem a lot more common
fingers crossed so far anyway.
When I first started playing WoW, the very first thing that struck me was there were a couple of dozen other people in the starting zone...it was quite sobering.
That said, I play Lotro too (admittedly on a 'low population' server) it makes Defiant look like a WoW server by comparison.
I played Auto Assault to the end. At times the server (by that point there was one for the whole world) had a population that numbered in well into the ones.
Even before the shutdown was announced it was perfectly possible to be on with under ten people in your faction at peak euro time, and peak US time wasn't much better.
Dead Calm's Defender Manifesto
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More EU centric advertising, for example?
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There seems to be more - the Daily Mail competition for example?
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That a misthought for Daily Mirror or is there another UK daily running a CoX competition?
And if the Mail is running one is the question:
In Paragon City you play a spandex-clad hero battling:
A) Evil.
B) Villains.
C) An influx of Eastern Europeans intent on causing a housing market crash.
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)
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i'm not sure but i think it may be a good idea,i'm playing on union and the game feel a bit dead, a specially on the villain side but not only.
is this been discuses before?
what do you guys think?
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What time of day did it feel dead?
At weekends, especially evenings and mid-afternoon, a lot of players like to do Task/Strike Forces and Mothership Raids with their L50s - if you're someone new, or very casual, who doesn't have a L50 character (or even L35+) and perhaps aren't signed up to any global channels, then I'm guessing the game could feel very dead indeed at a weekend - especially when you'd probably be expecting to find more people around to team with, not less.
Make more global friends, maybe get into a larger SG, or be more pro-active about starting teams rather than waiting to join one. To level-up my characters I tend to duo with a friend that plays at same times as me (as we find we level faster as there is far less mucking about than in casual PuGs and we can AFK when we please without being affected by the AFKs/needs of 6 other people), then I get my full-teaming fix from TFs/SFs/raids at weekends - I'm sure others play like this too, staying with friends most of the time and only PuGging for major stuff.
Ok I only have full PuG experience for TFs/SFs/raids lately, but I've had no problems pulling teams together for them - I got a PuG ITF together in around 15-20mins on Saturday, which is faster than usual - and that was on Defiant where I usually find TFs take longer to form than on Union - so the game population on both servers seems healthy enough to me. But yeah newbie zones are quiet - they will be in all non-WoW MMOs at this stage in their lifetime, as most players are at the upper levels and/or already have established social networks they prefer over random teaming.
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That a misthought for Daily Mirror or is there another UK daily running a CoX competition?
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Yes and no 
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
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The EU side could be losing money and there could be a number of reasons it's not been merged. For example NC could be happy with the US part of the game subsidising the EU part as they think they'd lose more by merging than they would by keeping the servers open.
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As far as I know NCSoft Europe is a seperate company that works with NCSoft US. If this is the case it would be a fair assumption that the game has to be self-sustaining as opposed to relying on the US to survive. If anyone can shoot me down there, feel free.
Anecdotal evidence means very little. 500 odd people on at one time? So? I sometimes don't even have time to play once a week nevermind every day. Sometimes I just don't want to play. I play enough to justify the sub though. People online means NOTHING beyond the possibility of not finding a team. Whether the game is dying or not is down to profit. If someone could use some relevant statistics then we could draw a conclusion. The amount of people playing at one time affects teams. It does not affect profit, subscriptions do. You would likely find positive correlation between the two, but they are seperate.
And I suspect that whether the servers are merged is based on subscriptions as opposed to how many people are online.
I know someone who hasn't logged in in the last six months or more but still has an active sub.
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I know someone who hasn't logged in in the last six months or more but still has an active sub.
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Must be a badge hunter
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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I know someone who hasn't logged in in the last six months or more but still has an active sub.
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Must be a badge hunter
[/ QUOTE ]In my case it was cause I never found the time to play but then after the other big project I was with collapsed, I had loads of time to play.
That was before the vet system was even heard of but I felt the game was worth paying for despite my lack of available play time.
That also brings me to another point - if the game was losing money then why do we still have the option of paying for 6 months in advance (or even 12 months stateside)?
Tyger (50), Mutation-Controller Mind/FF - oldest Mind/FF on Union
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
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I know someone who hasn't logged in in the last six months or more but still has an active sub.
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Must be a badge hunter
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Actually another mad American, who has gone of to College and hasn't time to play, keeps saying he'll be back but...
Pfft that's nothing.
Micron disappeared around April/May 05 (allegedly with internet issues ), he finally returned end of April 07 and had paid his subs all that time... nutter!
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I know someone who hasn't logged in in the last six months or more but still has an active sub.
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Must be a badge hunter
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Actually another mad American, who has gone of to College and hasn't time to play, keeps saying he'll be back but...
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Always plays short rotund characters? Deleted all his 50s then wished he hadn't? Same friend or another one doing the same thing?
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
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...Deleted all his 50s then wished he hadn't? Same friend or another one doing the same thing?
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Maybe CoX should have a Windows-style "Recycle Bin" from which we could retrieve those level 30+ blasters that we deleted in a moment of inebriation late on a Friday night after being battered to a drunken puddle by something that may well have been either an AV or a GM but whatever it was we may just possibly have had one or two too many to be able to notice...
Not that it's ever happened to me...er...
But back on topic...
I have to 'fess up to drifting over to that barbarian thing from Funcom for a bit, and after coming back to CoH the first thing I noticed (apart from the fact that the different UI tended to make me panic as I ran into a pack of purples and couldn't remember which button to push to stop) was how busy CoH (Union) was.
My experience may not have been typical but apart from the very early days when the game was swamped (as all good new games apparently are), things still strike me as being much tha same as they always have been. People certainly do leave, but people are still coming into CoX - which surely says something for the quality of both the game and the community here.
My gut feeling (as I have no stats either) is that the OP may have hit a run of bad luck, team-wise. I seem to remember speculation that Zukunft would be canned back in early 2006, and they're still here. Fact is, we don't have to make the business case - but I think we can rest assured that someone, somewhere, looks regularly at the subs per server and that if there are sound reasons to merge servers we will find out well in advance. The fact that the notion seems, still, way out in left field bodes pretty well, I think.
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But I doubt that a server merge will happen now due to paid for slots. If there where going to do a server merge it should of been some thing they did before the paid for slots.
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If anything I'd say extra slots make a merge easier; previously a merge would have caused all sorts of difficulty if both servers were full for an account. Now, they can just add extra slots to the merged server to take all the toons.
Not that I think a server merge is needed, or would be helpful.