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D&DO Gets server merges, what will this mean for AC???
bezado
Member UncommonPosts: 1,127
Today Turbine announced that it will be doing server mergers for players in DDO, to allow them to find groups easier and have people to play with.
Does this mean DDO is doing worse then AC? I speculate that if they did this with DDO it would be a nice move if they did so for AC to, since both games have small community base. But lately I been loging into AC with 300 or more players online for FF server. I think if they would do server merges in AC it would be nice to allow players on other unpopulated servers to have a chance for having more players available to play with.
The only problem with doing a merge in AC is housing. How would they overcome this? Perhaps players merging to a new server are given time to get housing tickets that allows them to reedem a house they have currently on that other server. When they merge they go to the Agent of Arcanium to reedem their house. Houses on the merged server that are not yet owned would be held for these tickets till they are redeemed within a 30 day period. I think that would be a way to work that house problem out for AC merging servers. Also they could just place more Villas around, AC is a big world. 
Comments
AC was not designed with the idea of sever merges. DDO I assume is much easier to merge than AC. Also grouping is far more important in DDO, so condensing the players is a priority.
DDO probably has more subscribers than AC. It was just easier and more important for Tubine to merge the DDO servers. So, I wouldn't say AC is any better.
Ok I will agree there, but AC also requires people to run it's quests. Alot of AC quests require full groups of people or close to it to run. For DDO it is a group required game, the mechanics behind it certainly show that most content in DDO needs a group to do. So I see why they made that decision to server merge for DDO. Was just wondering if a server merges would come to AC or be possible to do is all.
I'm not sure they will ever merge them. They say it isn't easy because of housing and items. The servers could stand to be merged right now, but they don't do it and it doesn't seem like they have any plans to. I really wonder if they have some plan eventually to repopulate the servers a little like making the game free up to a certain level. Otherwise once the population gets to a certain point there is going to be a cascading effect. People are going to quit because there are few to group with and talk to.
Well AC has been around so long it obviously has a much more stable playerbase. The people playing AC are happy with the game and its sustaining itself. To me there is no doubt AC would benefit from a server merge as well but not to the extent that DDO will. AC is not going to attact new players at the rate DDO still can.
DDO is a group game and the game mechanics suffer greatly with low pop servers. Its a good thing Turbine is addressing this issue because now when new players come to DDO they should have a very easy time finding groups which is what DDO is all about. At that point a new DDO player can fully asses the game that Turbine has develped and decide if its their cup of tea.
I know if I am the executive producer, I don't want to read on the cancelation reports that people are leaving because they can't find groups. That means you just lost a customer that may have potentially liked the game and would have been a active subscriber. I want to read that they just don't prefer that style of game which in that case you were never going to keep them as a subscriber in the first place.
I played AC for about 4 years, starting back in 99. I've returned a couple times and would certainly return again if there were to be a server merger. I agree that the housing and character naming problems would suck for those still subscribed right now, but I also think that if there were only one server (ok, maybe one carebear and DT) with over 1000 people online at any given time the game would still hold the interest/needs of gamers today. My last "comeback attempt" was just after ToD was released and I still really enjoyed the gameplay, but the numbers online just killed it for everyone. It's probably true that there were more buffbots, tradebots, etc. online than acutal players. Considering that the patron/vassel xp passup system can be a very important (if not necessary for some) part of obtaining higher levels, the more the merrier I say!
Unfortunately, it seems that Turbine is solely interested in KEEPING current players paying and not picking up new/returning ones. I mean, the big level increase to 275 and the just BRUTAL amout of xp needed to reach the highest character levels at least to me was obviously just to give the old school grinders something else to obtain while retaining that monthly payment. So, while it would drastically benefit ME personally and perhaps a few others like me, I doubt we'll see a server merger. Sadly, AC seems to have become like reading Stephen King's: The Stand. REALLY long running, with just tiny tidbits of content added here and there to keep you trudging toward the end which is always in sight but never seems to get there......
Turbine have stated over and over again they don't think about merging the servers in AC. This subject pops up every few months and why .... ok please fill it in.
There is just one thing I don't understand. Why are AC players asking for a merger? There is absolute no need for it. When there were in the past a 1000 players on, I mainly met my clan mates and not the other 950 out there. Now with around 300 players, I still meet most of the time my clan mates and not the other 250. What is it then players miss?
One of the most important things in AC is being a member of a good and active clan, with enough members. In our clan we do every quest with full fellows if it is needed. Even more then a full fellow. I have never the "alone" feeling.
To be honest, I am monarch of a bigger clan on Solclaim, always busy to invite new nice players. We have to do this, because not everyone stays for years in game. To keep the players base at level, you can't sit and wait. By this active attitude we were able to form a good hard core player group, who like new players, knowing it is in their interest in from the group.
If you like to know more how we are organized, please feel free to look on our own website at
crimsonknights-sc.com
Because the game isn't -just- for a person and their guild. It takes away the whole social aspect from before, where places were packed with people and you could actually trade in-game. Plus it would allow them to make some more epic content like the old days where larger groups of people might be required.
The world feels empty, especially if you only play the game in off-peak times. At night there are barely any people except bots online most of the time, with the person here and there through the night.
Sheista, you are right, the game is not only for 1 player and his/her guild. However most players like to play in groups and clans are nothing else then a group. A monarchy is for most player the back ground of their play. So if this group is big enough, there is always something to do.
I agree the market place is not fun by trading with a bot. I am strongly in favor of live trade. But this is up to the players. If they do their best and make some efforts, live trade can be restored, portal storms inspite. But don't forget, players are awful loaded with all kind of items these days and stuff is given away for free very often.
AC desperately needs server merges... all to one preferably and increase the number of v's and such to accommodate.
Shadus
No, they just need to make everything pre-ToD free to play (excluding housing). AC will not make it another year unless they do that.
I disagree with that assessment, not having anyone to play with is a bigger issue than a few new people running around... most people aren't going to start the game now who haven't played in the past... it's just too ugly.
Server merges would give existing players someone to play with which would help with retention rates.
Long run "fix" of the game would be improve the graphics to say... eq1/daoc/etc levels at least. I'd love to see ac2 quality graphics, those were gorgeous. If they did that then offered a real free trial, they'd get swamped.
Shadus
People will play anything if it's free, even if it looks awful. Just look at Runescape.
Unfortunately they will never be able to do server merges. They said they can't do it because the game relays on item tags for everything and each one has the same id tag name across each server and houses would be an issue also. They also said they are not familar with how to make new complex features for the game since they took the game back from microsoft. Many of the how to things have been lost in how to use the editors and whatnot, stuff that had been lost when they bought the game back from microsoft and from older developers leaving before they could get any info.
I would think they would of had some sort of documentation written down to how to do certain things. The housing is a problem to. They are afraid to even update houses because they said they can mess up really bad, it shows that they are clueless even on this old game that they use to run but they also have a complete new team working on it.
I wonder if it will survive if they can't update the games older content without screwing things up like they told us repeatedly. 150 max people logged on a night isn't helping anything.
The ID thing is bull. They just don't want to do the programming. Also it might not even be worth their time to do it.
ID's would be fairly simple to solve. You pick two servers. Server one get's the ID's from 0 to 2 billion. Server two gets the ID's 2 billion to 4 billion. When the tables merge, there is no problem.
The real problem is conflicting housing and character names.
I would be fine losing my house. My name though I'd like to keep, which is a problem.
I said it before, but MMO's need to switch to non-unique names. The first players get the best names and the older the game gets, the hard it is to get a decent unused name. If anyone wants to contact you they have to use a contact list or look you up, just like in real life.
Non-unique names are tricky though, although requiring first and last names and using them would be a good step. At least then almost everyone can have a name they like.
Shadus