How's the Population?

Tenebrion · June 2011

As a Darkfall / Ultima Online refugee, my interest in sandbox MMOs is what brought me to MO. I avoided the game since launch, but with the release of the new expansion, in addition to the fact that the community seems to be overwhelming positive regarding the game, I've decided to give the trial a shot.

However, before I become emotionally invested, I'd just like to know two thigns: What sort of population does the game have, and does the world feel "alive"?

deathshroud · June 2011

the best thing to do is ask on the official MO forums.

Imo the population is relatively high especially since dawn expansion. However dawn is bugs and is being fixed. Im still having plenty of fun in dawn but it will be 1 or 2 weeks before the game is running smooth again.

Rohn · June 2011

I'm a fan of the game, so keep that in mind. I think the short answer is that the population is good enough, and there are certainly enough other people to play with. The game does feel alive most of the time, though like any single server, does have its "prime times" during EU and NA primetimes.

It's not as populated as it was at launch, and it's probalby still too early to say how many people will be or are returning for the expansion, though there has been a noticeable jump since Dawn came out. There are places in the game that have historically had less population (i.e. Toxai, Morin Khur) than others (i.e. Meduli, Fabernum) because of where they are situated on the map. Bakti and Moh-ki have good populations even though they are very small towns. You'll also happen across a number of people just traveling in the world. Overall, the community is good, though every community has it bad side.

Give the trial a shot - that's the only way you'll know if it looks to have the population you're looking for. Good luck and have fun in-game if you do!

Ethereal401 · June 2011

Population is to high now. I go to meduli and theres 20 people using the big bank. I go to the bank by the docks and there's 7 more. I liked the predawn tightlyknit population.

Slapshot1188 · June 2011

The day after the patch Fab was a ghost town. Now much of that was due to server issues I will admit. I will pop in again in a few days and let you know.

Moreplex · June 2011

There can not be over 400 people playing at a time. I have done trial 2x and now I am on my 3rd. I talked to a friend in game that used to be in SS and he agrees the population was better about 4-5 months ago. Look at the forums they rarely get over 150 people to vote on important polls. IRC barely gets over 150 people and there is usually 100-170 people logged in on the forums. For a game that you have to go to the forums and IRC to get info that is low.

funkmastaD · June 2011

Originally posted by Moreplex
There can not be over 400 people playing at a time. I have done trial 2x and now I am on my 3rd. I talked to a friend in game that used to be in SS and he agrees the population was better about 4-5 months ago. Look at the forums they rarely get over 150 people to vote on important polls. IRC barely gets over 150 people and there is usually 100-170 people logged in on the forums. For a game that you have to go to the forums and IRC to get info that is low.

You've been vocally critical of this game since your account was created, why do you keep playing the game if you hate it so much?

OP: It's impossible to estimate the total concurrent since the landmass is relatively large and you obviously can't be too places at once, but I've never had a problem finding crafters, butchers, etc. Trade is picking up too, Dawn has really boosted population and once all the wrinkles get ironed out, I have a feeling it's only gonna rise.

I've actually recomended this game to quite a few friends, something I never would have done a couple months ago; the game has improved considerably (and frankly, I loved it back in beta).

The fact that the forum has 150 concurrent viewers, and most people don't go on the forums, would imply that the in-game population is much, much higher.

Moreplex · June 2011

I really disagree with "most people do not go to the forums". Most info you need to know about the game is in the forums. Almost every person I talk to regarding questions about the game in IRC or ingame refers me to the forums.

EDIT- Even the CEO himself uses froum numbers instead of sub numbers. Obviously they hold a lot of weight or the sub numbers are too embarassing to even tell his stock holders.

Slapshot1188 · June 2011

I just ran around town... empty at 9PM Eastern. I FRAPSED it as well... uploading to youtube (22% and counting). I will post a link when it's done.

Does this mean anything? No... probably not, but I just find it an amazing coincidence that this is exactly how it looked last time when the free trials started and everyone was talking about the populaton "booming" (which was later proved to be untrue, at least subscriber wise, when the financials stated subs were flat from prior quarter).

So OP.. it's a free trial. Load it up yourself and take a look around. Try a few different towns.. and be sure to venture outside them a bit. Look around, and decide if what you see fits what you are looking for. It's obvious that some people have different expectations regarding game population so it's best to decide for yourself!

Rohn · June 2011

Saying that "everyone" was claiming that the population was booming is about as gross a mischaracterization as you'll find on these forums.

To the OP, in my opinion, there are enough players to play the game with and make it fun. I'm not saying that they are choked with players, or "booming", or it's a "ghost town", or any other such forum warfare exaggerations. I play the game regularly, and have since launch, so take that for what it's worth.

As others have said, you'll likely get better, less biased information from the official forums, but as always, you've got to take everything with a grain of salt. It's the internet.

Good luck!

Moreplex · June 2011

Originally posted by Rohn
Saying that "everyone" was claiming that the population was booming is about as gross a mischaracterization as you'll find on these forums.

To the OP, in my opinion, there are enough players to play the game with and make it fun. I'm not saying that they are choked with players, or "booming", or it's a "ghost town", or any other such forum warfare exaggerations. I play the game regularly, and have since launch, so take that for what it's worth.

As others have said, you'll likely get better, less biased information from the official forums, but as always, you've got to take everything with a grain of salt. It's the internet.

Good luck!

That part in yellow is a joke right??

Rohn · June 2011

Originally posted by Moreplex

Originally posted by Rohn

Saying that "everyone" was claiming that the population was booming is about as gross a mischaracterization as you'll find on these forums.

To the OP, in my opinion, there are enough players to play the game with and make it fun. I'm not saying that they are choked with players, or "booming", or it's a "ghost town", or any other such forum warfare exaggerations. I play the game regularly, and have since launch, so take that for what it's worth.

As others have said, you'll likely get better, less biased information from the official forums, but as always, you've got to take everything with a grain of salt. It's the internet.

Good luck!

That part in yellow is a joke right??

No, it's not. It's not a joke in any way, shape, or form. It's an accurate statement.

funkmastaD · June 2011

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by Moreplex

Originally posted by Rohn

Saying that "everyone" was claiming that the population was booming is about as gross a mischaracterization as you'll find on these forums.

To the OP, in my opinion, there are enough players to play the game with and make it fun. I'm not saying that they are choked with players, or "booming", or it's a "ghost town", or any other such forum warfare exaggerations. I play the game regularly, and have since launch, so take that for what it's worth.

As others have said, you'll likely get better, less biased information from the official forums, but as always, you've got to take everything with a grain of salt. It's the internet.

Good luck!

That part in yellow is a joke right??

No, it's not. It's not a joke in any way, shape, or form. It's an accurate statement.

I tend to agree. Anyone concerned with the supposed "excessive moderation" should just go through the official forums, and look at the posts... if you notice a distinct lack of earnest and frank criticism, then you can probably assume the forum is biased... myself, I'm betting that won't be the case

Slapshot1188 · June 2011

Originally posted by Slapshot1188
I just ran around town... empty at 9PM Eastern. I FRAPSED it as well... uploading to youtube (22% and counting). I will post a link when it's done.

Does this mean anything? No... probably not, but I just find it an amazing coincidence that this is exactly how it looked last time when the free trials started and everyone was talking about the populaton "booming" (which was later proved to be untrue, at least subscriber wise, when the financials stated subs were flat from prior quarter).

So OP.. it's a free trial. Load it up yourself and take a look around. Try a few different towns.. and be sure to venture outside them a bit. Look around, and decide if what you see fits what you are looking for. It's obvious that some people have different expectations regarding game population so it's best to decide for yourself!

Here's the video shot around 9PM Eastern tonight.. Thursday June 16th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzLFmhoI68w

This is Fabernum, one of the cities mentioned above as having a higher than average population...

funkmastaD · June 2011

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

I just ran around town... empty at 9PM Eastern. I FRAPSED it as well... uploading to youtube (22% and counting). I will post a link when it's done.

Does this mean anything? No... probably not, but I just find it an amazing coincidence that this is exactly how it looked last time when the free trials started and everyone was talking about the populaton "booming" (which was later proved to be untrue, at least subscriber wise, when the financials stated subs were flat from prior quarter).

So OP.. it's a free trial. Load it up yourself and take a look around. Try a few different towns.. and be sure to venture outside them a bit. Look around, and decide if what you see fits what you are looking for. It's obvious that some people have different expectations regarding game population so it's best to decide for yourself!

Here's the video shot around 9PM Eastern tonight.. Thursday June 16th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzLFmhoI68w

This is Fabernum, one of the cities mentioned above as having a higher than average population...

Server was in offline mode, meaning the server was down. What you're seeing is client-side information and nothing else... hence why there's no players, you couldn't draw your weapon, and there was none of the typical "you are under the protection of the Fabernum guards", or other system stuff in the chat box.

Although you are technically right... when the server is down, the concurrent population drops to zero

edit: for confirmation:, http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/47651-server-status-88.html#post1161805 ,

Slapshot1188 · June 2011

Originally posted by funkmastaD

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by Slapshot1188
I just ran around town... empty at 9PM Eastern. I FRAPSED it as well... uploading to youtube (22% and counting). I will post a link when it's done.

Does this mean anything? No... probably not, but I just find it an amazing coincidence that this is exactly how it looked last time when the free trials started and everyone was talking about the populaton "booming" (which was later proved to be untrue, at least subscriber wise, when the financials stated subs were flat from prior quarter).

So OP.. it's a free trial. Load it up yourself and take a look around. Try a few different towns.. and be sure to venture outside them a bit. Look around, and decide if what you see fits what you are looking for. It's obvious that some people have different expectations regarding game population so it's best to decide for yourself!

Here's the video shot around 9PM Eastern tonight.. Thursday June 16th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzLFmhoI68w

This is Fabernum, one of the cities mentioned above as having a higher than average population...

Server was in offline mode, meaning the server was down. What you're seeing is client-side information and nothing else... hence why there's no players, you couldn't draw your weapon, and there was none of the typical "you are under the protection of the Fabernum guards", or other system stuff in the chat box.

Although you are technically right... when the server is down, the concurrent population drops to zero

edit: for confirmation:, http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/47651-server-status-88.html#post1161805 ,

Uhhuh... OK.. I just did it now. RANDOM time right after your post (10:25 Eastern or so). Guess what? One guy standing AFK at bank in rags and one guy standing afk naked on a corner.

Sorry but the only starting town which I have ever seen with a decent population is Meduli. You simply need more than a few people in a town if it is going to be a player generated economy. You need weaponsmiths, armorsmiths, tamers, cooks, butchers... etc. Then you need adventurers coming into the town to sell/trade their goods. The only starting town where I have seen anything close to functioning is Meduli.. so if you make that your home you might be OK. All of the other ones.. Fabernum, Toxicai, etc.. all have very low pops... at least in my experience.. in US prime time..

Uploading again... won't link till morning.

Rohn · June 2011

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by funkmastaD

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

I just ran around town... empty at 9PM Eastern. I FRAPSED it as well... uploading to youtube (22% and counting). I will post a link when it's done.

Does this mean anything? No... probably not, but I just find it an amazing coincidence that this is exactly how it looked last time when the free trials started and everyone was talking about the populaton "booming" (which was later proved to be untrue, at least subscriber wise, when the financials stated subs were flat from prior quarter).

So OP.. it's a free trial. Load it up yourself and take a look around. Try a few different towns.. and be sure to venture outside them a bit. Look around, and decide if what you see fits what you are looking for. It's obvious that some people have different expectations regarding game population so it's best to decide for yourself!

Here's the video shot around 9PM Eastern tonight.. Thursday June 16th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzLFmhoI68w

This is Fabernum, one of the cities mentioned above as having a higher than average population...

Server was in offline mode, meaning the server was down. What you're seeing is client-side information and nothing else... hence why there's no players, you couldn't draw your weapon, and there was none of the typical "you are under the protection of the Fabernum guards", or other system stuff in the chat box.

Although you are technically right... when the server is down, the concurrent population drops to zero

edit: for confirmation:, http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/47651-server-status-88.html#post1161805 ,

Uhhuh... OK.. I just did it now. RANDOM time right after your post (10:25 Eastern or so). Guess what? One guy standing AFK at bank in rags and one guy standing afk naked on a corner.

Uploading again... won't link till morning.

What about the guy that you were watching chop wood? Or Narrat? Or Baguette? Or Thorwulf? Or Carpe? Or any of the other guys that are still running around?

Was it a cast of thousands? Nope. Fabernum at launch was a major hub, and it has not been as important in recent months, though you'll still find people there and around that area to play with.

funkmastaD · June 2011

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by funkmastaD

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

I just ran around town... empty at 9PM Eastern. I FRAPSED it as well... uploading to youtube (22% and counting). I will post a link when it's done.

Does this mean anything? No... probably not, but I just find it an amazing coincidence that this is exactly how it looked last time when the free trials started and everyone was talking about the populaton "booming" (which was later proved to be untrue, at least subscriber wise, when the financials stated subs were flat from prior quarter).

So OP.. it's a free trial. Load it up yourself and take a look around. Try a few different towns.. and be sure to venture outside them a bit. Look around, and decide if what you see fits what you are looking for. It's obvious that some people have different expectations regarding game population so it's best to decide for yourself!

Here's the video shot around 9PM Eastern tonight.. Thursday June 16th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzLFmhoI68w

This is Fabernum, one of the cities mentioned above as having a higher than average population...

Server was in offline mode, meaning the server was down. What you're seeing is client-side information and nothing else... hence why there's no players, you couldn't draw your weapon, and there was none of the typical "you are under the protection of the Fabernum guards", or other system stuff in the chat box.

Although you are technically right... when the server is down, the concurrent population drops to zero

edit: for confirmation:, http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/47651-server-status-88.html#post1161805 ,

Uhhuh... OK.. I just did it now. RANDOM time right after your post (10:25 Eastern or so). Guess what? One guy standing AFK at bank in rags and one guy standing afk naked on a corner.

Uploading again... won't link till morning.

What about the guy that you were watching chop wood? Or Narrat? Or Baguette? Or Thorwulf? Or any of the other guys that are still running around?

Was it a cast of thousands? Nope. Fabernum at launch was a major hub, and it has not been as important in recent months, though you'll still find people there and around that area to play with.

rut-roh, slapshot messed up, I was also in fab and can name off a few more people active there as well. butchef was butchering for another guy, I looted the head of a failed thief (edit: mameluco), and about 2 other thieves snooped me. I'm guessing you were the 'slosh' guy? There was also Woogen and Sloww . slapshot, you are actively lying.

If I'm wrong as you were just mistaken before, and just... I don't know... blind?... this time... maybe you should edit out that post where you posted an offline client as proof of population at the very least...

edit: fixed thief's name... I wasn't even close... luckily I can refer to his severed head

Slapshot1188 · June 2011

Originally posted by funkmastaD

Originally posted by Rohn
What about the guy that you were watching chop wood? Or Narrat? Or Baguette? Or Thorwulf? Or any of the other guys that are still running around?

Was it a cast of thousands? Nope. Fabernum at launch was a major hub, and it has not been as important in recent months, though you'll still find people there and around that area to play with.

rut-roh, slapshot messed up, I was also in fab and can name off a few more people active there as well. butchef was butchering for another guy, I looted the head of a failed thief (matachoro or something? Dunno), and about 2 other thieves snooped me. I'm guessing you were the 'slosh' guy? . slapshot, you are actively lying.

If I'm wrong as you were just mistaken before, and just... I don't know... blind?... this time... maybe you should edit out that post where you posted an offline client as proof of population at the very least...

Umm.. no. I am uploading the video.. untouched.. people can clearly see for themselves exactly what I saw. If you all got on vent after my post and all 3 or 4 of you rushed into the game to make it populated.. congrats. If there were dozens people in town you might have a point. There were 2 when I made the video. Apparently Rhon saw 4 or 5. When you have a regular population in most towns that is like Meduli we can actually have this discussion mean something.

If you want to argue that there are 4 guys in town instead of 2... well.. umm.. OK have fun with that. Like I said. Video uploading for morning.

PS: I typed in "It's 10:30" at the start of the video so you cannot claim this was some old video.. also you can see the message about being under the guards protection so the server is obviously online. What you will NOT see are players. So unless I made them vanish with my leet magic powers.... as they say.. a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is priceless.

funkmastaD · June 2011

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by funkmastaD

Originally posted by Rohn

What about the guy that you were watching chop wood? Or Narrat? Or Baguette? Or Thorwulf? Or any of the other guys that are still running around?

Was it a cast of thousands? Nope. Fabernum at launch was a major hub, and it has not been as important in recent months, though you'll still find people there and around that area to play with.

rut-roh, slapshot messed up, I was also in fab and can name off a few more people active there as well. butchef was butchering for another guy, I looted the head of a failed thief (matachoro or something? Dunno), and about 2 other thieves snooped me. I'm guessing you were the 'slosh' guy? . slapshot, you are actively lying.

If I'm wrong as you were just mistaken before, and just... I don't know... blind?... this time... maybe you should edit out that post where you posted an offline client as proof of population at the very least...

Umm.. no. I am uploading the video.. untouched.. people can clearly see for themselves exactly what I saw. If you all got on vent after my post and all 3 or 4 of you rushed into the game to make it populated.. congrats. If there were dozens people in town you might have a point. There were 2 when I made the video. Apparently Rhon saw 4 or 5. When you have a regular population in most towns that is like Meduli we can actually have this discussion mean something.

If you want to argue that there are 4 guys in town instead of 2... well.. umm.. OK have fun with that. Like I said. Video uploading for morning.

...yeah, we have a fanboy vent. There were about 20 people inside the walls when I was on there, which was right a bout the time you posted. Why haven't you taken down that last misleading video you posted? You know it's not an actual reflection of population...

Moreplex · June 2011

Well Ia m sitting in Fab right this second there is under 10 people here and that is counting outside I did a run around. Booming population no.

EDIT.. I killed an afk at the bank and got a guy upstairs to half before someone noticed me and called guards. On a newly mad character with a noob sword took me about 4 mins to make all that happen before someone wandered by.

Slapshot1188 · June 2011

Originally posted by funkmastaD

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by funkmastaD

Originally posted by Rohn
What about the guy that you were watching chop wood? Or Narrat? Or Baguette? Or Thorwulf? Or any of the other guys that are still running around?

Was it a cast of thousands? Nope. Fabernum at launch was a major hub, and it has not been as important in recent months, though you'll still find people there and around that area to play with.

rut-roh, slapshot messed up, I was also in fab and can name off a few more people active there as well. butchef was butchering for another guy, I looted the head of a failed thief (matachoro or something? Dunno), and about 2 other thieves snooped me. I'm guessing you were the 'slosh' guy? . slapshot, you are actively lying.

If I'm wrong as you were just mistaken before, and just... I don't know... blind?... this time... maybe you should edit out that post where you posted an offline client as proof of population at the very least...

Umm.. no. I am uploading the video.. untouched.. people can clearly see for themselves exactly what I saw. If you all got on vent after my post and all 3 or 4 of you rushed into the game to make it populated.. congrats. If there were dozens people in town you might have a point. There were 2 when I made the video. Apparently Rhon saw 4 or 5. When you have a regular population in most towns that is like Meduli we can actually have this discussion mean something.

If you want to argue that there are 4 guys in town instead of 2... well.. umm.. OK have fun with that. Like I said. Video uploading for morning.

...yeah, we have a fanboy TS vent. There were about 20 people inside the walls when I was on there, which was right a bout the time you posted. Why haven't you taken down that last misleading video you posted? You know it's not an actual reflection of population...

I logged in.. and videoed. I have no idea if it was in "offline mode". How would I login if that were the case? It's not like I was playing the game for an hour and decided to video.

Anhow.. as I said.. new video is uploading right now... clearly NOT "offline mode" and made around 10:30 Eastern tonight. Why dont you upload the video showing all 20 of those people you claim were there (apparently hiding)? Because I actually have a video... why didn't you make one? And my video was made EXACTLY after your post claiming my first one was a fake... So it's not like I spent hours planning and waiting for the 30 seconds where the town was clear....

ltank · June 2011

Funny I just went there and at 11:45est there were at least 13 different people there. It was night so I didn't want to look in every nook and cranny trying to find people so there may have been more but I easily found those 13 people in 1 minute of looking.

Slapshot1188 · June 2011

Originally posted by Moreplex
Well Ia m sitting in Fab right this second there is under 10 people here and that is counting outside I did a run around. Booming population no.

EDIT.. I killed an afk at the bank and got a guy upstairs to half before someone noticed me and called guards. On a newly mad character with a noob sword took me about 4 mins to make all that happen before someone wandered by.

Epic...

So if you remove yourself... me... and the people that only logged into that town after reading my post... you will see how many people were really there. Or simply wait for my video. It will make it quite clear who is telling the truth. I stand in the town center and turn the camera all the way right, then all the way left then all the way right again... then I walk to the bank... then pan back around in case the other 19 people were sneaking around behind me. Maybe they added stealth as a skill in DAWN? It would explain much.

funkmastaD · June 2011

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by funkmastaD

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by funkmastaD

Originally posted by Rohn

What about the guy that you were watching chop wood? Or Narrat? Or Baguette? Or Thorwulf? Or any of the other guys that are still running around?

Was it a cast of thousands? Nope. Fabernum at launch was a major hub, and it has not been as important in recent months, though you'll still find people there and around that area to play with.

rut-roh, slapshot messed up, I was also in fab and can name off a few more people active there as well. butchef was butchering for another guy, I looted the head of a failed thief (matachoro or something? Dunno), and about 2 other thieves snooped me. I'm guessing you were the 'slosh' guy? . slapshot, you are actively lying.

If I'm wrong as you were just mistaken before, and just... I don't know... blind?... this time... maybe you should edit out that post where you posted an offline client as proof of population at the very least...

Umm.. no. I am uploading the video.. untouched.. people can clearly see for themselves exactly what I saw. If you all got on vent after my post and all 3 or 4 of you rushed into the game to make it populated.. congrats. If there were dozens people in town you might have a point. There were 2 when I made the video. Apparently Rhon saw 4 or 5. When you have a regular population in most towns that is like Meduli we can actually have this discussion mean something.

If you want to argue that there are 4 guys in town instead of 2... well.. umm.. OK have fun with that. Like I said. Video uploading for morning.

...yeah, we have a fanboy TS vent. There were about 20 people inside the walls when I was on there, which was right a bout the time you posted. Why haven't you taken down that last misleading video you posted? You know it's not an actual reflection of population...

I logged in.. and videoed. I have no idea if it was in "offline mode". How would I login if that were the case? It's not like I was playing the game for an hour and decided to video.

Anhow.. as I said.. new video is uploading right now... clearly NOT "offline mode" and made around 10:30 Eastern tonight. Why dont you upload the video showing all 20 of those people you claim were there (apparently hiding)? Because I actually have a video... why didn't you make one? And my video was made EXACTLY after your post claiming my first one was a fake... So it's not like I spent hours planning and waiting for the 30 seconds where the town was clear....

Because I don't have a massive personal investment in affecting how people think of MO. Your videos are misleading, and you know it. I'm not gonna keep arguing, because it's not me you're trying to fool...

AzelSpears · June 2011

Has this game improved since launch?

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