Repeat rallies: a rough idea
By
Captain-Electric,
Posted on: 2012-09-23 02:20 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Yes, we really need to see continued rallies of support; but the problem with moving these efforts to the Beta Server is that it's the ONLY place where players can experience the game's newest features and play through Issue 24 content. I have a feeling that as the end draws near, more and more players will log onto the Beta Server to do just that. I know I'll be spending more time there.
Weirdly enough, the con to using the Beta Server may also be the pro: getting more players moved/copied onto the Beta Server will make teaming easier.
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Well, yes - the cons are mostly of practical nature. And that it's also the place where players can experience the upcoming improvements is also a pro - it's one thing to list the features, and another to see them for yourself.
I'm all in for repeating rallies.
Although I do still prefer the regular servers for it.
Regular servers (S) vs Beta (B):
S1: efforts are visible in real world (I don't know if it just me, but I feel that the regular servers equals the current world, while beta server is a way to travel to the future)
S2: great opportunities for teaming, including running very challenging content, costume contests, formation of entirely new supergroups etc
S3: Getting into beta is not trivial for everyone. Subscribers beta, training room, US beta, Euro beta etc.
S4: Encourage the creations of clones of your main characters if the main event is on another server, which in the long run stimulate cross-server friendship and proliferation of your lore.
B1: Beta is neutral
B2: Opportunity for cross-server friendship and lore proliferation in a similar way to S4
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Counterpoints:
S1: The efforts might not be visible in a positive light - while yes, a lot of us want to show our support of the game, it would be bad PR if we were to trample everyone else in the process
S2: Agreed with B2. The main reason Beta doesn't see much teaming is its overall lack of everyday activity.
S3: Didn't NCsoft launcher and the merging of server lists do away with that?
S4: It would by default create clones of your main characters on Beta server, which in turn would help cross-server friendship. Creating a clone on another live server after the fact would be a trivial matter.
Not everyone lives on these forums by a long shot. Running them on individual servers raises awareness of the in-game community.
@Texarkana
@Thexder
Not everyone lives on Virtue and Freedom either, and we filled those the first time around. Plugging and organizing the event on all servers would probably be necessary - but I'll leave that to TonyV if he thinks it's worth the effort.
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I never said so and that was not the intention of my statment. I think rallies have taken place on most of the other servers too -- Virtue and Freedom just happen to appear to be the most impactful and get the most "press" after the fact because they typically have the most people. |
Originally Posted by Quinch
Not everyone lives on Virtue and Freedom either, and we filled those the first time around. Plugging and organizing the event on all servers would probably be necessary - but I'll leave that to TonyV if he thinks it's worth the effort.
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Running on individual servers enables the cause to raise further awareness and pick up those players that would not otherwise be aware. I happen to think it would be counter-productive to not leverage (or break up) existing server communities with the notion of migrating people to beta for the hypothetical reasons above. CoH is ultimately an aggregate of players on all servers -- I think we'd lose people much faster, notably those that don't move to beta, than if we did just stay the courseb (at least, for now). That's just my opinion, though.
Edit -- I'll throw in that we really should have server wide channels with MOTDs to pass information along, assuming we don't already. If we do, then I'm ignorant of them.
@Texarkana
@Thexder
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Just wanted to point out to the OP, that's partially how we got so many people at the first rally on Virtue/Freedom. In-game, it's possible for the relatively tiny forum population to tell their global chat channels "Hey, head here for x reason", thus reaching the larger game world population. You can't do that on beta.|
Originally Posted by Texarkana
Edit -- I'll throw in that we really should have server wide channels with MOTDs to pass information along, assuming we don't already. If we do, then I'm ignorant of them.
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Also, for some reason beta never worked well on my computer, so I don't bother with it anymore. And, please keep in mind, the more steps you make people go through, the more likely it is that people will just give up before even doing it. If the point is to gather as many people as possible, keep in mind KISS. It seems infinitely simpler to tell people "Please log into x server" than "Please make sure you have beta installed and updated, then please copy a character over (or use one you have already) and then please also be on at x time on y day in z zone."
And isn't the beta server a separate game? What if people don't have the hard drive space for a second version of City?
Not trying to be a negative Nancy, just trying to be practical. If you're worried about "grid-locking" servers, well...what about picking two servers from the get-go? And for those who can log into their servers, picking a less-used zone, like Perez Park? And how would the lower population servers feel if we picked them instead of the high-density servers? I play on a medium to high load server, so I don't know how the lower population servers would feel about an invasion and I'm not even going to try and guess.
Now I'm just rambling, so I'll tl;dr: please, no beta if you're looking for another large rally.
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Right - I was trying to draw a parallel, rather than put words in your mouth. Sorry if I ended up sounding more abrasive than intended.|
Originally Posted by Texarkana
I never said so and that was not the intention of my statment.
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Originally Posted by Tiny Bolt
Now I'm just rambling, so I'll tl;dr: please, no beta if you're looking for another large rally.
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Why not do the rallies "round robin" style? set a 3 hour (or more) time slot for each server?
Might have to spread them over a few days, but that may benefit for advertising it amongst globals and supergroups.
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Don�t say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. - R.W. Emerson |
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Instead of Beta, why not go to Test? As far as I'm aware, there's only one of those, and it doesn't have the new content of Beta that people might be trying to play through.
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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.
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No.|
Originally Posted by Quinch
Hold on, aren't they the same thing? Beta, Training Room, Test...?
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Test (AKA the training room) has the same software build as live.
Beta has a different build with 'beta' (not yet ready for live) stuff being tested.
I have all 3 installed: live, test and beta.
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Correct. Test used to be where new stuff came out, but nowadays it seems to be a lot like Live, but for player testing. It's usually not very populated with people, as I've found, AND it's available to non-VIP players. About the only downside is you need to install a secondary client.|
Originally Posted by Ironblade
No.
Test (AKA the training room) has the same software build as live. Beta has a different build with 'beta' (not yet ready for live) stuff being tested. I have all 3 installed: live, test and beta. |
I suggest Test because it's free to transfer there without mucking up your friends lists and SGs, while you can leave a "real" copy of your character on your home server. I moved Sam to Virtue for the event, but I moved him back to Victory where he belongs, and I'd rather not move him again. He belongs on Victory.
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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.
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Crossposted to Titan forums
Working on the following assumptions;
- The first unity rally gathered a lot of people, and a lot of attention
- The concentration of participants helped drive home the message that we are not willing to let CoH go quietly
- Devs have stated that "keep making noise" is a beneficial factor in whatever negotiations they're undergoing with NCsoft, so repeated rallies, even if they don't bear the magnitude of the first one, can act as a show of persistence
- On the flipside, the unity rally completely gridlocked two servers, and repeating the event might not sit well with those who would prefer to simply play the game while they can
- There is, however, one server that could host the rally, at least in a limited capacity, without obstructing anyone's regular gameplay - the Beta server
- Pro: It is, for the time being, accessible to everyone, whether they're vreem, preem or freem.
- Pro: A large turnout would also help showcase the improvements that would have come with I24 if not for the sudden shuttering, thus helping illustrate that the game wasn't, in a development sense, dying.
- Con: Inconvenience of installing the beta client
- Con: Can the character transfer tool handle a large load?
- Con: Beta might not be able to handle as many concurrent players as live servers.
Any thoughts?