COMBINE THE SERVERS!!!!

Although I'd love a server merge, how would you treat the leaderboards, the ranks and so on.. ?

 

I agree with your questions, i think the best way to fix a combined server merge is simply re-fabricate or make a whole new rank system, leader boards etc.

 

merging servers and making the game active 24/7 would make the game more interesting!

 

Okay then.

You also forget more scumbag players in general would be crowded together. Server merges are bad, more players for a short amount of time if your lucky, same with the full maps.

Okay then lol.

The problem is would they actually do such a thing?

You'd give everyone that fought for those ranks the middle finger and they'd quit, taking their wallets, taking their activity within the game, possibly even taking their frustrations to court for such robbery.

How could this even be done fairly?

This would be a short lived side effect, not fixing anything that brought about the lacking player problem in the first place while complicating said problems wouldn't make for a more active server for long, though I think a server merge is possible, I wouldn't put it past BP to majorly mess it up angering more players, they're pretty adamant on their anti-server merge stance though.

In conclusion, server merges are bad lol . Consult the below post to crush any further opposition you may have, have a nice day.

I have to disagree with everything on this thread for so many reasons, server merging, I just don't like the idea, it would be a waste of time and they'd screw it up, piss off player, etc, besides that, ranks would get further ruined, what about event ranks as well. Server merging would only be a temporary fix to a growing problem, the game needs advertisement and change and new players.

A server merge would just cram players together and eventually those players would slowly quit, remaining players ask for more server merges, eventually 1 or 2 servers are left and no one players them, on the opposite end of the spectrum, if the game became lively again after a server merge, they'd have to remake servers. Some say server merges are impossible, I'm sure it's possible but would be worthless and would do more harm then good.

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Server merges wouldn't be beneficial, some players have accounts on multiple servers, the simple fact remains that one day the servers would be over-crowded and they'd have to make more, it's pointless to merge servers then have to re-make one's you've deleted. The second idea is alright, the first seems pointless to me.

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Unless everyone kept their ranks, the ranks would be destroyed, even if that happened, RP's would be through the roof and their already bad enough. Other ranks would be messed up and jumbled together. I don't have much faith in BP to do any of this right. Don't forget if someone had an account on two servers that were to be merged, what would happen to one of the accounts, all the progress on it, money possibly put into it?

I could predict players quitting for a number of reasons from things going wrong with the server merges and said problems not being rectified to losing things on accounts or losing accounts entirely, again I don't think BP could do any of this right to begin with.

There's a number of other things BP could do besides server merging that would be more beneficial in the long run, especially financially. Unfortunately they're to stupid to try and make the game more active, do you think they'd attempt a server merge? That would hinder any remaining profits.

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How about no.

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They've been trying and mostly failing to fill the dead servers, if they merged servers and the newly active servers became over crowded then they'd just have to recant the whole server merge anyways, meaning its just a short term fix which in the end would cost more and do more harm then good, the amount of data would probably be to much to keep track of and I wouldn't put it past DO to screw up everything and ruin entire accounts, why delete accounts for this monstrosity of an idea, if I had to choose I'd say don't delete any of my accounts, you forget ranks as well, event rankings and clan and player ranks, people pay money to achieve certain ranks and I'm sure they'd be less then happy to lose said rank.

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The players that lost ranks in one thing or another would likely be upset, they'd most likely quit cause the maps to be just as dead, in the event of that more server merges happen, then more, eventually one or two servers are left with no one playing and ranks of all sorts are in complete shambles.

 

Simply do this, either way no matter what dark orbit does some people will be happy and some won't. To help a server merge, take an example of colonel. If the highest colonel is 6 mill rps and lowest is 3 mill. Average that and it will be 4.5 mill. Now with the merge coming now ranks will be jammed abit, so doing something as easy as changing the whole rank system to begin with Would solve the rank points problem. Instead of going for 4.5 mill rps of a colonel, if they increase colonel from 0.5% of the company to 1.0% or maybe 1.2%. Doing this allows for more colonels to be put into te server thus lowering overall rank points, so instead of an average 4.5 mill rps of 10 colonels in one company. make it 3 mill rps with 20-25 colonels. If we change the rank system and increase it more, it will pay off at the end, if there are more colonels and chief colonels in a company more people would find it easier to obtain and if it's easier to get. that means it's more than likely they would spend on gates.

 

If they can let everyone play in the test server, they can merge servers. Its all data, they can do the move, and let everyone know they are doing it. People would get over the ranking issues. Everyone has to admit that it is more fun when you see more people on. The only problem comes when you have 50+ players going after the same thing. Players would still play. Top Payers, err players would still pay as they would have more to shoot at.

You are so right. You can't please everyone. Some people are going to complain just because they have the will to do it.

My question is what is the capacity of the servers?

 

After opening my eyes to some possible good from this idea, I've decided to slightly change my stance on the idea of a server merge, wait what? Boss Adam loves server merges! Well not quite but whatever.

Though I still don't much like or care for it, I can see a possible need for server merges. Of course the problems that caused servers to die in the first place wouldn't be fixed but a larger base of players would breathe some life back into the game for probably a very short while, either this or some real fixes for the problems that killed the game in the first place are needed.

What led to the degradation of this game has been a number of things in my mind, one being the quick rise in price to stand a chance while no rise in uridium for either purchase or to be earned has been entertained.

One big problem was the massive amount of cheats and bots that went on without repercussion for to long, after causing untold damage financially with the loss in legitimate players and the lack of cheaters paying for uridium and other goods and causing damage to the activity to the game through legitimate players quitting, they were finally banned still fairly slowly and given sufficient warning to stop their evil activity so they could keep their ill-gotten gains. Even the first wave of bans was just a slap on the wrist for most, keeping massive amounts of ill-gotten gains to the point where they were set for life, half the population of players in the game was at this point cheating in some way which stems off laziness and drastic and dramatic rises in price, this led to further players leaving the game and most of the remaining being past and some probably still cheaters. These actions in there order were all around terrible planning and decision making on BP's part, there greed for quicker profit led to the destruction of long term profit and the game in general. As it slowly dies, new items that mostly damage it more are added to keep things slightly interesting.

The terrible and lackluster effort to deal with cheaters quickly was a big chunk of what caused the game to be in such a pathetic state. Botters mostly attribute their activities to not being able to afford the high price tag to become UFE, others I would assume were just to lazy or lacked the necessary time, though these reasons are somewhat understandable, they do not justify the actions, being slapped on the wrist for such actions after having free reign for years was just a nail in the coffin, a slap in the face to legitimate players who held out, at that point some were admitting they would've botted if they knew the bans would be so pathetic.

The quick rise in expensive items with high price tags was terrible planning and led to almost everything that we deal with today. A more gradual introduction while balancing the prices out with more and better ways to earn or purchase uridium would've changed the future dramatically.

Even more problems are the lag and glitches and the lack of communication between players and higher-ups, mostly developers, the lacking support to say the least as well as the repetitiveness of game-play, lack of new events and maps and NPC's. Re-vamping the quests was thought to be something good as well but the uridium dropped, low on everything except EP and non-existent honor. The argument can be made that what the quests ask for earns the uridium, given the fact that the actual reward is so low compared to old quests and the quests of today ask for more and are usually more difficult, that can probably be dropped.

Without fixing any of these or other problems, a server merge would be a short term fix and would be a cruel inhumane thing to do compared to letting things die off completely. If such things were actually looked into then a server merge would be a viable temporary option to breathe life into the game but would probably still cost to much to be worth while.

To deal with some of the problems and logistics of a server merge, obviously some careful consideration and programming would be needed or the entire thing would end up being a terrible mess. If this option was considered as a temporary fix then ranks for previously separate servers could just remain separate in general. While on the subject ranks could still use a re-vamp, letting more players hold a certain rank and dealing with ridiculous RP's needed.

Obviously some advertisement and fixing and updating would be a better thing in the long run to hopefully bring the game back but who knows if BP would even consider that, instead they'd probably collect what they can and run. To deal with accounts on multiple servers that would possibly be combined, accounts could just possibly be separated if that's even possible though I wouldn't know, me leaning to the no it isn't possible side or it could be but with not so viable costs and possible losses of data.

Without fixing anything, a server merge would be a short term fix that wouldn't liven up the game for fairly long in my opinion. Most of the things I listed would be evident, from cheating and cheating accusations to even more lag in certain maps and during some events to the larger groups of past cheaters and general scumbag players, sounds like good fun or does it?

Currently I don't think BP has any capacity to even successfully do a server merge, there's also the fact that they've already rejected the idea, probably for some reasons I've listed in the past. Problems with going through with a server merge would be abundant and probably wouldn't or couldn't be rectified. It probably would lead to mass chaos and would be financially damage and another and probably the last nail in the coffin, doing the opposite of what it was intended for.

If BP went through with the idea and the newly combined servers became overpopulated, they'd have to recant the entire thing which would be a huge waste. Of course if some reoccurring issues and issues with a long presence within the game were fixed then the the overpopulation wouldn't be as big of a deal in general. I do have to attest that I think players that paid for ranks would be less than thrilled to have them taken away and destroyed with this idea and of course they'd quit, taking away $$$ and activity from the game, as well as possible legal backlash, it would be a killer setback and make a server merge less worth while, I don't think everyone would shrug such things off and keep playing. Some players currently left certain servers because of a large populous of scumbag or past cheater players, having their new server merged with the one they left would probably be a kick in the teeth as they get to deal with the old groups they disliked as well as new ones and all of which would make up a larger group in general, gotta love cheater/scumbag parties.

I kind of keep jumping from one thing to another and back again so ya, a server merge might have some viability unless some serious changes are made to make the game better for the long run, it probably won't occur and would be a very temporary thing. I see a very slight possible need but am still less than adamant about such an idea going into effect. Some serious fixes for the persisting problems, some of which I probably missed need to be considered. Either way, I don't see BP acting or going for either solution which leaves players stuck with a dying game, a shadow of its former self. Maybe one day whoever makes some of these wacky decisions will wisen up, things will improve, improvements will be made, some suggestions on fixes for things I brought up would be nice, a more positive discussion about the progression of things and some serious feedback and suggestions would be better. It would be a miracle if it was seen by someone who could act upon such problems.

Either way, this game will die a slow painful death (with very irritated players to say the least) as its milked for its last few dollars unless changes are considered and made for once and by BP, taking feedback and suggestions, responding to and giving actual thought to such things would be a great first step. Have a nice day . I must reiterate that I sincerely apologize for this messy conglomeration of reoccurring random crap that needs consideration!

 

ID# 68038543
East Coast 3
BARABBAS~
Friend if you want a lot of players, try the German Servers.
You know I can still remember when East Coast 3 would have a warm bunch of fellow company pilots at home base and always daily several raids by other company's to our home base. That is all gone. I don't know...

 

Dynamo, your post's are too long. In future keep it short and succint. The way forward, is a server merge, I believe. However, why can't Dark Orbit keep the original servers open as well? Just add a combined server. That way Dynamo can play with himself in the dead server and everyone else can have the 'option' to play in a 'real Global' server. If it works they can phase out the less dominant server(s)...

 

@ZÿИΛPS, If you don't have the mental capacity to read my essay on the subject then don't comment, I'm sorry if I continue to come off as an ass, I don't think I can be succinct on this topic with such an array of underlying problems that need change that a server merge alone cannot provide. I don't think you understand that I would prefer BP to actually fix things that led to the servers dying in the first place and fixing other problems that degrade the quality of the game, doing so would be better in the long run then just a simple server merge that has been denied by BP, though with that in mind it could be a temporary option while things are worked on so things are a bit more fun. I don't like dead servers as much as you and would prefer to not play with myself alone on a dead server, I just think screaming for a server merge while considering absolutely nothing else is absurd and not the way to do things.

If BP is intent on ignoring the idea of server merges then they need to change their current tactics so things improve more, many great suggestions and idea's have been put forth on the forums, though there are plenty of not so great ones but still, they seem to fall on deaf ears and go completely ignored until the thread is closed for inactivity or under the pretense that the idea and feedback on it was passed up the ladder. A better connection between players and developers instead of this wall of crap would be a step forward, actually considering feedback, fixing things and recanting bad updates, all things that don't happen despite strong opinions from players. Testing things half the time without a test server and without gathering opinions from those that these updates effect is a bad way of doing things. One such example of this was the freeze rockets, the best that can be asked for by players now is somewhat necessary nerfs. I think there has been some effort to make some improvements but they are to little and to late for the most part.

One such idea that was recently suggested and pretty good in my opinion was for MCB-25 to cost credits, not really OP or game changing but it gives the average player a better chance at farming and building up, saving configurations is another such suggestion that would make general game-play better and easier and more fun. Increasing uridium from aliens is also something that should be looked into. Prices have went up on what it takes to max an account, more things are needed, uridium to be earned and for purchase however has remained the same, as I said in my last post, such a quick rise in price led to a lot of things that negatively effect the game to this day.

I don't feel like ranting about the same things again but ya, some more dramatic change for the better is necessary, in the long run such things would improve the game for the better, be financially beneficial which should be obvious and crush any need for a server merge.

@ZÿИΛPS, if you read my last and ridiculous in size essay, you would see some of my reasoning for my thinking on certain subjects, you'd see why I have opposition to just blatantly screaming for a server merge, you'd also see that I apologized for the ridiculous length lol. Good day and please make an attempt to skim over some of the spam I posted.

 

Okay, I read the post and I agree to a certain extent. On the other hand, like you said it seems to fall on deaf ears. I am still waiting for Jan15, Device update....
Lastly, with reference to 'fixing things' Dark Orbit seem to think that the banning of cheats is the thing that players need? Further diminshing the game, but hey that's another story..

 

The whole cheat problem correlates well with dying servers, the lack of action on BP's part in the beginning let the cheats get so out of hand, half the players in the game were using some form of bot or cheat by the time serious (debatable) action was taken, the servers were dead besides automated players and autolockers, permanent bans couldn't be the first repercussion as it would destroy the player population though many cheaters were probably discouraged from coming back if they did get caught because they'd have to actually work to build their ship. Today, it seems that to make up for the pathetic action and lack of by BP, nothing is really changed but a report of who is banned for whatever is published, this is fine and dandy but it really does just damage the remaining player base, its a sad state of affairs when banning cheaters is bad for the game but BP dug that grave.

It would seem that whoever is in change is a few years behind on feedback and thinks all players overwhelming want nothing but cheaters being banned. This would be fine and dandy if positive steps were taken to improve the actual game, a better game where cheating is discouraged and a massive wallet or said cheating isn't needed to attain a good ship to have fun with. It would seem all of this falls on deaf ears until finances are in a sever state. More and better communications would really be a great first step in improving things in general, some actual feedback and serious consideration on some very beloved idea's that are posted would be nice to.

Alas all we can do is bicker while things degrade .

 

EHH, Tellin em merge server since 2010... no admin cares...
1: They keep making new servers to make old players make new accounts to buy uri to get high in hall of fame.

Anyways i played since 2007, i play like every 3 months and quit for 9.. lol... so whenever they brain diapers get their senses to merge servers lemme know...
wish we could push money down their throats till they choke (that gonna show if you keep putting servers, theirs not enough players to breathe a server)
PEACE!!!

 

i have an open mind to server merges and can see the good and bad points.
The option to keep all servers as they are and have 1 "global server" that everyone can jump into would be a good idea also. The points/kills/rewards from the global server could just be added to the players xp and honour.
That way players can choose to jump into a "global server" to play with a vast number of players from around the world and at the same time keeping all servers as they are. They could have a limit on the numbers of players that can join a particular server, but seeing as servers are dying anyway, i can't see that being a problem. .
* As for the number of active players, that is hard to calculate but i personally think that players that have been inactive for over a year should be taken off the dark orbit leader board/hall of fame and if that player was to try and log in after a year, then they could just contact dark orbit/big point to reassign there account, and put it back on the game. ( there are thousands of players on my server but only a small number of players actually play. I regularly check the leader board and it seems pointless showing all registered players if they don't actually play)

 

The UFEs on my main acct's server do nothing but hammer everyone...multi-company clans and alleged cheating....people are sick of it and don't want to play. Merge the servers then all the UFEs will be driving the little guys out on a larger scale... ultimately all it will be are UFEs smacking each other around. But let's face it, most UFEs are all about sniping damaged noobs and not about parity. Most of the new players I see last about a month then I never see them again.

Merging servers will not save the game.

 

I agree Leon, one last 'Global' server that once a player is lvl 20 upwards, has the chance to have 1 free UFE ship and entrance to the 'Global' server but doesnt have any rank?
However, Global Europe and USA is already a sever merge because of the area it covers. Therefore, Dark Orbit are reluctant to try anything new. The only thing they could do is manully put every ship in 1 map I suppose. On the other hand, release a totally new game and gradually close everything else down.
I am trying to imagine something new and feasible....

Lastly, a very interesting point is about the inactive players...Dark Orbit actually live in the past and fail to acknowledge that once a player leaves they dont want to come back. My personal belief is they shouldn't waste time anymore trying to recoup the players that once made this game alive. What they should be doing is focusing on gaining a new breed of players by totally overhauling the game. I'm afraid tiny tweaks aint gonna win any respect. Especially the random news about removing cheats and a newsletter now and again!

 

Revising the ranks would not resolve the situation if servers merge. Due to various factors such as the age and population of servers, the highest ranked player from each server would be miles apart. On GB1, it is a relatively quiet server. That means kills are hard to come by where as the more populated servers such as GE1 and GA1 will provide for higher death tolls and ultimately, higher rank points. The same is true if a server has existed longer than another.

In my opinion it is best keep the servers separate, the ranks separate and the leader-boards separate. Instead I propose the following:
- Open the former JP battle maps (cross-server map) permanently, accessible from each servers 4-4 map (The maps exist, why not recycle them?)
- Create a highly contested objective in this map (higher bonus box rewards, increased LF4 chance, new alien?)
- IMPORTANT! Each cross-server map is exclusive to only 3 servers (for example, GB1, GB2 and DE1 could share a map)
- Which servers share a map is dynamic and ever changing so that 3 servers of a similar population/activity are grouped together
- This will allow for fairly contested events such as Spaceball or Domination
- This means if a server becomes more active or more populated it is promoted to contest with other servers of a similar activity level
- Servers are only eligible to share maps if they are similar in timezone and location (there's no sense in having a European and American server share a map)
- When in this map, companies are ignored and are instead replaced by server flags. That means players from your server, regardless of company, are your allies and other servers are your enemies.

It creates another level in the hierarchy. Servers would act as companies in these maps and if you've ever felt patriotic or loyal towards your server, here's your opportunity to support it.

 

That would actually be so good. It's honestly the best solution I have heard to this problem.
Whole focus of the game would change for lots of people - they would build up their account with the aim to be good enough to fight on the multi-company maps. The regular maps would be less about hunting and more about building up a good account to help in the fight for your server, in theory.

Although the servers would have to be picked based on size, I know it was just an example but in a fight between GB2, GB1 and DE1, I feel very sorry for GB2 x).

 

best idea would be to sort them out via activity of the server + make it so you cant shoot anyone on your own server so they all team up, it'll be fun!

 

some good ideas here guys. +1 from me. flash and zynaps. like the well thought out ideas. . from gunstar gb1.