Why do I have to buy Going Rogue in Europe?

Don't you think that's just a little bit unhealthy?

I'm really not at all sure I understand any part of this post at all. It kinda seems like a Proustian stream of consciousness thing (harking back to French Lit in college).

But I think the part I highlighted might be some sort of backwards Zen koan?

i remain thin and good lookin^^

Can someone please translate this into English? Since English is not your first language, I am not trying to be rude... but I literally have no idea what the majority of this post means. "Hide beside your own shadow"???

Unless you feel you can run a business on positive thoughts and good intentions alone, it actually is. It's just a question of how much the desire to maximize profit and minimize cost takes precedence over... Well, positive thoughts and good intentions. I happen to think Paragon Studios are doing a pretty fine balancing act at the moment, especially compared to something like EA.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Well, I was meaning in general, not just your body
There's lots more to do in life than playing computer games

I suspect you may be giving that ramble a shade too much credit. But then again, it's been two decades since I read 'In Search of Lost Time'. So maybe I mistake genius for sheer inanity.

I think we've found a worthy successor to UniqueDragon. Praise be!

Like... posting on forums?

And riding horses, and hanging with friends, and shopping, and keeping fit, and other stuff

So you were riding your horse through the mall on your way to the gym with your friends and that's why it took you 2 hours to reply on this thread?

Tsk tsk, you're losing your touch - can't you use a laptop on horseback or something?

Don't forget your laptop - I'm not sure what this forum would do without you

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.

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. 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.

---
Original post by Memphis_Bill

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

I like low population servers too, but then I usually play in regular groups/duos or I solo, so a lack of crowds doesn't affect me negatively - quite the opposite, it reduces my lag.

That said I'd like to see a server list merge, just not any server merges - extra options are good. But I'm assuming there are very good legal and publishing reasons why most MMO publishers split up their server farms/lists by region (as geographical issues re latency aren't as pressing nowadays as they once were, and affects MMOs a lot less than most gaming styles). Sure, SOE had combined server lists for all of their MMOs I played, yet Activision-Blizzard have split lists by continent for WoW - there must be a very pressing reason for it.

Betting their are business/legal/regulatory rules stopping this from happening.
If NCSoft NA and NCSoft EU (or whatever it's calling itself) are separate business divisions with separate billing databases, there may be issues in tracking players paying one service and and playing on servers supported by the other.

That said (sorry, not mocking you, just a most appropriate turn of phrase), I'd not say no to a merged server list.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

Yeah it's probably that. I think SOE are a global entity, whereas most other MMO publishers are split into geographic regions or have licensees handling their properties on other continents (like the awful GOA did for pre-EA Mythic in Europe).

you called?

This calls for gundam intervention

Im 'a' "unique dragon"^^.

btw, i made a mistake, my lvl 50 count isnt 47, its 49.

(even though i dont play anymore)

I feed the ppl!! cannon fodder for the masses

For PONY!
/because I could

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.