[SC] My server is a "ghost town".....

What's your solution then? Merge servers together than make everyone buy uridium if they want to enjoy the game?

Maybe since you play GE2, according to your signature, you are disillusioned with how the vast majority of servers are, but taking away peoples ability to make good uridium over time and replacing it with nothing is not a good idea.

However take this from somebody who plays GB2, a dead server, and GE1 - the most active server in the game.
I prefer GB2 much, much more overall. On GE1 I am forced to buy uridium if I want to help my clan with PvP, I do not have the time to spends hours each day collecting boxes or asking people if they want to do LoW gate. Whereas on GB2 I can jump on, do a couple hours cubing in relative peace, fight off a few people who hunt in 2-6 and make a nice but of uridium for the day.

If GB2 was merged with a few other servers to make it like current GE1 I think I would quit after my uridium has run dry, I don't have the money to afford buying uridium almost every week. Nor can I justify it for how quickly it would run out and the fun I would get in return.



Merging server is the easy way out, its the way to shut up players for a couple months. Then all the same problems of the game being too expensive resulting in people leaving will rear their head again. It really is stupid to petition server merges where are better options that avoid all the main issues that would come with merging servers, rank, accounts on the servers getting merged etc.


You really are shooting yourself in the foot when you think server merges are truly the best solution to the activity problem.

 

The ones complaing about dead servers are the PvPers This makes it easier to do your PvE quests without getting poof'd over and over Also some of the players have multi accounts which is against ToA...if you have two accounts and they merge which one to keep obviously the stronger one, eh. GL doing your PvE quests on a crowded map...try it during test server and you have no chance LOL

 

Okapi: You have taken me by surprise now. I imagined you as typical UFE payer As I am nonpayer (one cheapest SMS looong time ago), you gain much credit in my view now. I "grew up" in the phase, there were a lot of players and now there are only a little players - the worst combination (and GE2 is still relatively full server). I still dont consider myself as PvP, hunter or good DO player. But killing NPC (or collecting pld) over and over is starting to become "little" boring. But to the topic:

Only "dead" servers would be merged. Someone would have to decide, what "dead" is. So for example GE1 + GE2 absolutely not (hmm, actually, why I deal with this ). Take this example: PvP maps: Yet by the name, there should be epic fights (and it used to, but I didnt participate, since I was very weak that time - it was hard only to fly through). And what are they now? The harvest fields for camouflaged spearheads often navigated by macros and only time to time some hunter clear it, then harvest begin again. And it is GE2. I even cant consider how dead and empty servers as GB2 are. After few month of playing, it must be terrible boring.

I dont want crowded servers, where newbies cant go 1 meter from port, but there is huge range between todays state and crowded. That would come back, if servers would be merged wisely.

At some point you forgot, you dont have to be the best of best all time. You dont have to earn tens thousands of U per hour. You can play with a little. Play for fun, not for stats and it will be ok, you ll see.

Not true. So for newbie, its terribly expensive, while UFEs dont have anything to do. Its the "must be" problem of DO (it would be longer discussion-maybe another time*). But there must be some progress in the game and if BP will not repeat the mistake with bio (adding much of very expensive stuff at one moment), i think, it will be ok.

I dont care technical problems (I stated it already) as rank, same names, etc, etc. In my previous post, I assumed merge is possible.

*EDIT: I figured out IMHO good solution that would please both: newbies and UFEs and whole scale between. The merge would be from more servers (even all) and it would be strenght dependant - as at ultimate battle arena. It would repeat, lets say each 2 years. Strong with strong, weak with weak. Its a raw idea, but I think, my post is long enough

 

merging servers is pretty simply for instance create a new server and send an email for everyone to log into the new server as of this date
The ranks will fall into place for instant no 2 general have the same amount of EP/honor and that goes for the rest of the ranking its just like the test server there is no problems when thats open everyone fits in there i mean you find ships of the same rank from different servers and there is no issues ppl are makeing this too complicated i would rather loose rank than loose Ship

 

Those of you thinking a server merge is easy and not a technical problem. In one word yes, but there are a lot of technical issues.

Ok, you'll merge few servers in one.

What about players with multiple acc. ?
(Yea, keep the stronger one. But how will you decide which is stronger? What about accounts with similar stats or different stats [One may have higher rank, other better equipments]
Besides, many players could have actually spent a lot of money for those accounts, so that they could play in different servers. They spent money for having acc. in different servers so they can get different playing environment. You can't just remove all.

Players would loose their ranks. Ranking would become insanely high
Maybe you don't care about your ranks. But there are people who have spent a lot of hard earned money and time for their ranks. You can't just take them away overnight. It'll be too selfish and unfair act.

Bids will be way too high as well.
Maybe if you're already in a very active server, this won't be a matter. But again, you're merging dead servers here. Servers where you could get 50 cloak cpu at ~50 mill, shield/dmg boosters at ~30 mill, drones at ~7 - 20 mill. Merged server would have x10 - x20 times higher bids.

Earning uri./credits will be way too hard
No more solo cubes, maps will be full of people farming. Too many players hunting. You'll have really tough time getting uri./credits.
Then players will start complaining about the game being so costly. Free players will be badly affected. Only Wallet warriors could enjoy.

Newbies will be affected
It's much easy for newbies to get better equipments in a less crowded server. In a merged server, they'll have very difficult time earning credits/uri. and will be popped by UFEs more often. They'll loose their interest.

In long term, players will quit
Many players will leave the game or become inactive especially the free players. Thus, the whole aim of your experiment will eventually fail.


Maybe you come on for a while and play the game only for few hours. You may not care much about any of these. But you're not the only type of player. Definition of having "fun" or "enjoying" the game is different for everyone.

I believe for most, getting the best equipment faster so that they could enjoy PvP is the long term goal. This won't be possible in an over crowded server.

Most of the time we're mistaken that merging servers would increase players. But its not that simple, the result would increase the numbers way too much and create more problems.
You want an active server, not an over crowded one.

I believe the best solution so far is Okapi's idea of having some common sets of map between few servers. We can have big PvPs there. Better if we also get some good source of uri. (npc/boxes) to attract more players in those maps.
Its the only solution that won't create a whole new problem in an attempt to solve one.

 

Nice post Wagon.

I would remind few things about the auction problem. I don't think you are totally false but when i was noob in 2008 to 2010 the iris was at 100 millions and it was freaking hard to get it even worst sometime you could lost your bid and all your credits but i've never stop playing for this reason.

Btw the idea of okapi look awesome and I wish they will build it I like the Uba challenge but it could be nice to see some real war like in the old darkorbit. The only thing I think it could ruin it is the domination of some other stronger server like the global servers if they are.

To end it I hope they will find a way to renewal the community in the next 5 months.

 

Then the players stop playing DO and the servers will be empty again=>more server merges?

 

Aight, maybe I am not exactly someone experienced and knowledgeable enough in this area or even in DarkOrbit as a whole to talk, but decided to just join in and have a say since reading through this discussion has been quite enjoyable...

Well, why necessarily remove the accs or force playerbase to choose between accounts? In case of two servers which some players happened to have two good, Elite, whatever accounts on and they'd like to keep one, they could just be offered to keep one acc on that newly created merged server and move the other account over to another server. Well... I can see the technical issues that would come with something like this with a playerbase as gigantic (Okay, that's a matter of how you define "gigantic" since I myself am more used to being member of and working on/with small playerbases) as DarkOrbit, but still, it isn't necessarily a dead end, is it?

I suppose there could be various solutions to that issue.

Fair enough, but why insanely hard over two basically dead servers? xD Ranking would only become a mess be two massive servers merged, but two pretty much dead ones wouldn't be that much of a mess. Some competition may even be appealing to members of "dead" servers.

Sure, some players wouldn't like any competition at all and would like stuff to stay the way it is right now. But that is basically the case for every proposed change ever. Lol

True, very true. It'd be hard for low level players / noob players to get all "Elited-up" with massive bids like that. But assuming we're talking about merging servers which are dead anyways, the merge itself shouldn't affect bids too much, if at all.

Once again, this depends on what type of servers you'd be merging. Say you have two servers with a population of max 50 people being online at the same time (Doubt those numbers are even close to the real numbers, but bear with me here) . Merging those to even out the playerbase online on a server relative to other non-overpopulated servers wouldn't do the game and new players bad. They'd still be able to go about their regular Uridium farming routine without too many issues, I'd think. xD

I agree there. It would be relatively hard to get good equipment easier. But seems like in some cases here we're literally dealing with dead servers. As a newbie I would like to have some fellow company-mates playing along. Someone to invite into a team and do missions with if needed.
A game that is mainly supposed to be a multiplayer fighting game without any real players to compete or even "team" with loses the appeal to newbies, since most of their initial expectations of the game aren't met.

Well, considering players are already quitting, giving this idea of a merge a shot wouldn't be too bad if executed correctly, in my opinion.

Mate, I most definitely agree there. Being unable to get good equipment due to a server being overpopulated would be a pain. But merging dead servers to a point where they're less dead yet not crowded wouldn't make for that inability to get good gear. It would just make it a bit more hard, not "impossible" to that point.


All in all, the idea of merging dead servers doesn't seem bad to me personally. Of course, it could have its issues, but would seem worth it to me.

(PS Sorry for the long post)

 

There are no players on the maps anymore. Something needs to change, and fast.
That is basically is the point of my post. Thanks to all for taking the time to post comments.

 

Halloween is over...No ghosts here...Now time for Thanks for Giving your demise

Just hunt in BM, PvP maps or in the uppers....The lowers needs to spawn.

 

The-Wanderer: Nicely said. Finally, someone can see, there are not only two states - dead and crowded, but the very big range between, which we would achieve by wisely merging.