Wouldn't it be easier with fewer servers?
By
Ad Astra,
Posted on: 2010-08-05 05:52 in Suggestions and Ideas
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Some would say that low population servers are better. Obviously, opinions vary.|
Originally Posted by IssuePain
I am almost sure someone has asked this question dozens of times before. But would it not be easier to have 4 or 5 servers on COH/COV? Instead of the amount of servers they have now? Are low population servers worth keeping? I don't even log unto my toons in low populated servers. I put those toons there recently just to make room for new slots on populated ones. On the times I do log on those toons I play for maybe 5 minutes and I am done. Oh well....
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Do you propose merging the servers or just removing them (and the characters on them, and the tight-knit comunities that have formed there and the players that CHOOSE to play on lower population servers) entirely?
Are you ready for the string of reasons NOT to do so?
If you don't play your characters on those servers, feel free to transfer them to other, more crowded servers. There's a fee for doing so, but all thier 'stuff' moves with them, including thier auction house items, but they loses thier SG membership.
Main reasons it wouldn't (at this point)
Loss of unique names. You can have Captain Amazing on Justice but I have Captain Amazing on Pinnacle. If the two merged would you want your favorite level 50 to become Captain Amazing2?
Some people, like me, intentionally pick low pop servers for various reasons. More of a feel of being a unique Hero/Villain, instead of being surrounded by dozens.
Less traffic in PvP zones, for easier temp power collection. (Yeah, not so much a problem on any server nowadays)
Larger server loads
Reuniting with old enemies. You originally moved your toon to Infinity because Victory was overpopulated with people you didn't get along with. Now they're merged and all your old frenemies will be around.
Server merges signal the demise of a franchise, to the mainstream mindset.
Among a litany of other reaons.
Maestro Mavius - Infinity
Capt. Biohazrd - PCSAR
Talsor Tech - Talsorian Guard
Keep Calm & Chive On!
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And did you bother to look at that point?
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Originally Posted by IssuePain
I am almost sure someone has asked this question dozens of times before.
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total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
Here we go. Memphis_Bill copy-paste.
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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. |
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What would happen to servers such as Virtue, made up of mostly roleplayers? If the ydo a merger or get rid of other servers you're going to be having people joining the unofficial roleplayer servers, Virtue and Union, and essentially trolling and flaming those that choose to rp there. It'll be just like the RP servers on some other games I have played where 40% are actual rpers and the rest are normal players who deem it their responsibility to chase off as many rpers as possible.
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Actually, I highly doubt that there would be flaming as you suggest. This is another preconception you brought over from those other games, LH.|
Originally Posted by The Lone Hero
What would happen to servers such as Virtue, made up of mostly roleplayers? If the ydo a merger or get rid of other servers you're going to be having people joining the unofficial roleplayer servers, Virtue and Union, and essentially trolling and flaming those that choose to rp there. It'll be just like the RP servers on some other games I have played where 40% are actual rpers and the rest are normal players who deem it their responsibility to chase off as many rpers as possible.
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Although Virtue (and Union?) have a large population of RPers and is/are regarded as the "unofficial" RP servers, there are RP{ers on every server - and none are getting flamed - or at least I haven't seen threads complaining about it.
But as for OP - yeah, please look around a bit before starting an inflammatory topics such as this one, brought up "dozens of times" as you put in your OP.
Merge or eliminate servers? No thank you, I have characters on all of them - except Freedom - by choice. Dechs already brought out the copy-pasta - I still agree with it 100%.
Altoholic - but a Blaster at Heart!
Originally Posted by SpyralPegacyon
"You gave us a world where we could fly. I can't thank you enough for that."
My first day in-game on trial I had made a character on Freedom. Tried to find some rp and got bombarded by flame tells. :/ Hence I left Freedom and looked around the RP section of the forums. Noticed some of the rp happens in virtue and some in Union and thus I left for Virtue since Union is EU only.
Yeah, I gave up actively announcing my interest in RP for that reason. Never failed you'd get some chap that gets his jollies from breaking your immersion.
Virtue is by far the best server for serious RP, though even there you'll have some vocal detractors.
These days I RP in my head with certain toons. I may warn a PUG that a toon I'm on always acts in character, but thats as far as it goes.
Most love it when I'm on my robot toons. Lots of funny things can happen since he has a holographic generator, which allows him to change his appearance at random.
Or when I activate the beefed up Power mode and switch from a tiny little machine into a hulking metallic beast right before charging the spawn.
Ah, good times.
Maestro Mavius - Infinity
Capt. Biohazrd - PCSAR
Talsor Tech - Talsorian Guard
Keep Calm & Chive On!
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So you know nothing about those servers, but since you don't think they're useful, you want them to go away or be merged. |
Originally Posted by IssuePain
I don't even log unto my toons in low populated servers.
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How about a two word answer. Hint: It's not an agreement.
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In other words. |
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http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...39&postcount=4 http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...7&postcount=12 http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...5&postcount=14 http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...3&postcount=23 http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...3&postcount=26 http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...5&postcount=10 http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=205242 http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...2&postcount=14 As you can see, the subject comes up often... almost too often. Right now NCSoft has no plans to merge the servers for multiple reasons. Most of them I discuss at some point in those threads. The quick shot is that right now we are only a few weeks away from a Major Expansion release. This expansion will be selling through the Christmas Season. NCSoft will need to wait for 3 to 4 months after the Holiday Season is over to accurately determine what the stable subscriber base is looking like in all markets. This means that any decisions to merge servers, focus on a new game, or whatever, will be made next year. |
Hell /jranger no.
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Is your account worth keeping? Cuz I guarantee you that the the company is making more money off the people playing on the low pop servers than they are off of you.
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Originally Posted by IssuePain
Are low population servers worth keeping?
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Whoa whoa guys, chillax on the OP a bit will ya? In his post, I didn't see an actual suggestion to merge the servers, just a few curious, and understandable questions. Should this be in a different part of the forum?? Maybe. Should he have used the search function first? Sure. But all I see here is a harmless question; no need to pull out the torches.
Sorry OP, but "server merging" is a very touchy topic here. Best to leave it to the "don't ask don't tell" category.
- Im Not Talking Fast, You're Just Listening Slow.
- To Each His Own
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then why.....oh, nevermind.
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Originally Posted by IssuePain
I am almost sure someone has asked this question dozens of times before.
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My City Was Gone
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The OP didn't have to search. There's been a couple of different threads on this topic on the front page of more than one section of the forums.
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Originally Posted by Rowdy
Whoa whoa guys, chillax on the OP a bit will ya? In his post, I didn't see an actual suggestion to merge the servers, just a few curious, and understandable questions. Should this be in a different part of the forum?? Maybe. Should he have used the function first? Sure. But all I see here is a harmless question; no need to pull out the torches.
Sorry OP, but "server merging" is a very touchy topic here. Best to leave it to the "don't ask don't tell" category. |
I don't think merging some of the servers would be to bad all together, but before they do that I think they should (and probably are) see how much GR effects server population.
and really even then I would say maybe take the 4 lowwest (assuming the levels are low enough to warrent consolidation at all) and pair them up the lowwest pop of the 4 with the highest pop of the four and then the other 2, but like I said lets see what GR does for the servers first.
I don't see much reason for them to merge servers, and a lot of the standard issues with this are indeed pretty significant.
FWIW, I'm only playing on Virtue so far (RPer), and I have no idea whether it's "crowded" or "empty" by other peoples' standards, but it seems to do okay.
From my experience of high-pop and low-pop servers is, people who think low-pop servers are dead usually say that because they have to WORK to get a team together.
Server merging simply won't happen because aside from the copy-paste reasoning for the issue, some people LIKE low-pop servers and the most adamant of the low-poppers would even quit if their server got merged with a busier server.
Home server: Victory
Characters on: Victory & Virtue
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@Oneirohero
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A server merge would only occur if the costs of maintaining the status quo are greater (in terms of expenses, upkeep, good will, etc.) than the cost of merging the servers (which might require significant development work, lost subs due to inevitable glitches in the transfers and forced renaming of characters and SGs). Since there are so many intangibles with doing the merge (how many players would quit because they lose their unique names, or because they don't like the solution imposed on naming if duplicate names are allowed somehow), it's hard to make a business case for it. Most of CoH game play does not depend on having a large server population, and it's easy to switch servers if you want to be on a high-pop server.|
Originally Posted by Oneirohero
From my experience of high-pop and low-pop servers is, people who think low-pop servers are dead usually say that because they have to WORK to get a team together.
Server merging simply won't happen because aside from the copy-paste reasoning for the issue, some people LIKE low-pop servers and the most adamant of the low-poppers would even quit if their server got merged with a busier server. |
The devs essentially ran a test of the desire for server merges last Christmas by giving us free server transfers. I imagine that many characters were transferred permanently, but of my personal acquaintances there were no wholesale transfers. People basically moved some lesser played characters to other servers to make room for new characters. Otherwise, everyone I actually play with stayed put. And I mostly play on low-pop servers.
The bar is extremely low now for starting a new character on a new server. You don't really need an SG for storage or transportation anymore, given the ability to transfer items via global email and the various forms of teleportation that are freely available (Ouroboros, the consignment house teleporters). A group of friends can get started on a new server with their own SG very easily, and in a month of playing they'll have everything they need in a base.
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Did you read the copy pasta above on why it WOULD be bad?
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Originally Posted by Xenophage
I don't think merging some of the servers would be to bad all together, but before they do that I think they should (and probably are) see how much GR effects server population.
and really even then I would say maybe take the 4 lowwest (assuming the levels are low enough to warrent consolidation at all) and pair them up the lowwest pop of the 4 with the highest pop of the four and then the other 2, but like I said lets see what GR does for the servers first. |
I am almost sure someone has asked this question dozens of times before. But would it not be easier to have 4 or 5 servers on COH/COV? Instead of the amount of servers they have now? Are low population servers worth keeping? I don't even log unto my toons in low populated servers. I put those toons there recently just to make room for new slots on populated ones. On the times I do log on those toons I play for maybe 5 minutes and I am done. Oh well....