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AmazingAvery  10/17/08 9:15:15 PM

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Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. (Jan 22nd)

Originally posted by SinReaper
{ Mod Delete }

In relation to the topic I find it hard to understand how can someone not understand the simplistic approach in all converse the G.D. has had on the topic. The comment about "paying" and "being open with the community" is not neccessarily true and previous correspondance proved otherwise.

The persona the guy has chosen is justified fully imo to be skeptical and questioning their motives. No one will change my mind on that. At the end of the day seen it all before here for a long time. Delivering opinions from behind a charade is farcial at best and that goes both ways. The acerbic tone to start is more than enough to raise the question to their motives considering the initial representation.

Server Merge wise, I agree that something needs to be done. However, with perceived increase coming if things work out there may not be a need to do it so severley. Therefore it could be a case of wait and see for a short while..

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Playing: Age of Conan, Crysis Wars, Fallout 3, Supreme Commander.
Watching: Doctor Who S4, Stargate Atlantis S5

The views expressed on these forums are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of mmorpg.com

Deewe  10/17/08 9:45:48 PM

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Originally posted by AmazingAvery

Originally posted by Shillz

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

 


 I agree in that warhammer needs them first. The whole game is designed around population. Where as with AoC the details haven'f fully been released yet as well as the game not reliant as heavy as WAR is on population - I'm not saying AoC isn't effected, just not as much imo. If I remember right AoC will be looking in releasing further details end of the year / Jan time.



 
Are you serious? Have you been to a low population server in AoC?
All MMO's rely on population. It is the main thing that will make or break an MMO. Even a mediocre MMO can be very good with high population servers.

 

 
{ Mod Delete }


 

I agree with Shillz, every MMO rely on population at least the ones in which grouping is needed.

Now about WAR and AOC, not only most AOC servers are empty but with the instanced world the feeling is even worse. At least in WAR, on low server population you can find many players... in scenarios ;)

I do think AOC needs urgently to merge their server or do a free character transfer like WAR. I know I would not come back with my friends to emptyness...

I won't bet but I'm afraid for AOC safety server merge would come after WAR, Why? Because it seems it was planned from start with WAR. And the way they annouce it doesn't look like they have too few subscribers but want to gather the players together, just smart.

 

Edit: still can't find a damn pair of pants in AOC!

 
AmazingAvery  10/17/08 10:06:59 PM

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Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. (Jan 22nd)

Originally posted by SinReaper

 Let's get back to the original topic on this post if possible; as it's a good topic for discussion.


 

Good idea. And I am sorry if I came off harsh and thank you for your comments as always.

Here is a question for you. Do you think people would pay between say $5 / $10 / $20 to transfer their character in preference to an actual server merge? Should FC charge for a transfer or do it via server merge somehow, but free?

Say if your on Server A and Funcom merges with Server B, but really you wanted to go to Server C but their might be a cost involved.

P.S. I am running around Ymir's Pass at the moment ;)

Playing: Age of Conan, Crysis Wars, Fallout 3, Supreme Commander.
Watching: Doctor Who S4, Stargate Atlantis S5

The views expressed on these forums are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of mmorpg.com

Lukain  10/17/08 10:13:05 PM

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I guess developers have no forsight , isnt it time they develop easy character transfers before releasing a game so when things like low pop server do arise its a simple  click & where done .. develop now for the future not release now & developt later ..

 

 
SinReaper  10/17/08 10:15:20 PM

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Whaooo!

Originally posted by AmazingAvery
Originally posted by SinReaper

 Let's get back to the original topic on this post if possible; as it's a good topic for discussion.


 

Good idea. And I am sorry if I came off harsh and thank you for your comments as always.

Here is a question for you. Do you think people would pay between say $5 / $10 / $20 to transfer their character in preference to an actual server merge? Should FC charge for a transfer or do it via server merge somehow, but free?

Say if your on Server A and Funcom merges with Server B, but really you wanted to go to Server C but their might be a cost involved.

P.S. I am running around Ymir's Pass at the moment ;)

 

That's a good question.  As far as Age of Conan is concerned, there may be a portion of the customer base that feels that the perceived issues that may have resulted in their server being a low population server was not an issue of their making.

As such, they may feel a bit put off by the notion of then having to pay in order to rectify their situation.  I think in Funcom's case, the initial transfer from low population servers should be free, with subsequent requests and transfers provided at a fee.  Should cover the disenchanted, those that may come back to their characters if an opportunity to play on a more populated presented itself, as well as those who would just like the opportunity to move off their low pop server.

 

 
GrayGhost79  10/17/08 10:24:43 PM

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Originally posted by Tarka
Originally posted by GrayGhost79
Originally posted by Tarka

Sorry I was editing my post whilst you posted yours hehe.

He mentions:

Having done that, we can now move on to what we are going to do over the next couple of months, culminating with the release of patch 1.1 later this Fall.

And then immediately follow it with:

 Let’s start with what we know is some truly exciting news. I’m happy to announce that in December, the Black Guard and the Knight of the Blazing Sun will officially be part of WAR.

Which says to me that this new patch ain't coming in the next month or so for WAR.

So, in essence, AOC may actually beat WAR to server merges and transfers ;P


 

Not when AoC won't even confirm they are comming lol. To the community he said I can confirm that we are working on server merge's ect how to do them yada yada. Then in an Interview after he said they were merely discussing the idea of doing them lol. The stance on this was never clarrified. So considering they haven;t even decided to do them yet there going to be hard pressed to beat War to the punch. Not to mention WoTLK (WoW and War no thanks) and the one I am keeping my eye on DarkFall. So Funcom needs to get the lead out or it's going to be to late.

Agreed, they won't give a date. But the stance WAS clarified:

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=169342&page=2

In reply to the following:

Funcom needs to make it very clear to us here on the forums what their REAL status is on these server merges.

If it's just another carrot on a stick tactic to get us to hold on for 3 to 6 more months while they figure out and decide if they are really going to do it or not, then I don't see that working for a lot of the people that are left waiting for something good to happen.

The Game Director responded with:

The real status is as described above, both in the interview and my letter. Its currently being looked at internally and figuring out some of the fine details that come with such a move (and deciding the best way of handling the various aspects of potential merges etc some of which you guys have already flagged up in this very thread, it's not a simple task).

So am I going to give a date when we still have some things to resolve and figure out at this end? No, I'm not, and I am sure that you would all have that honest appraisal rather than something I'd be saying for the sake of it.

We will be sure to let you all know more concrete details as soon as we have them
__________________
Craig 'Silirrion' Morrison
Game Director

 

Now, without him saying the actual words "We are going ahead with server merges", I think you'll agree that he's confirmed that they ARE going ahead with server merges.  Also, he wouldn't have used the words "We will be sure to let you all know more concrete details" if they had no serious intention of actually doing the merges.

If still you don't believe that the above is actual confirmation, then you'll just have to wait and find out.

As for WHICH game needs it more, that is a pretty silly argument really.  We're not talking about one company owning both games.  They are BOTH needing them and BOTH are getting them.


 

Thanks for that. Yes, that looks a bit better after the interview. I still wish they would come out and say that "Yes, Server merge's will happen. We are working on the details and looking at it internaly." . I hate when companies leave wiggle room.

"Its currently being looked at internally and figuring out some of the fine details that come with such a move (and deciding the best way of handling the various aspects of potential merges etc some of which you guys have already flagged up in this very thread, it's not a simple task)."

The above gives them wiggle room later to say that they never actually said merge's were comming only that they were looking at them internaly.  But I have more faith in Chris than Gaute so  i'll accept it at face value.  Thanks again for the quote.

Awaiting DarkFall
http://www.darkfallonline.com/
Forums
http://forums.darkfallonline.com/
Helpful info
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/169533

Azrile  10/17/08 10:28:40 PM

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Any new or returning player to WOW, send me a PM for some help getting started.

Let me explain why I said  Warhammer needs higher populations than AOC.  I'm sorry if I didn't explain it before.

1.  If I'm in a Zone in AOC with 20 players.....   that is 20 other players I can kill.   Those 20 other players can all kill 20 other players.

2. If i'm in a zone in Warhammer with 20 players..   I'll only be able to kill 10 of them (assuming an equal split).

The fact that the game keeps you from killing half the players on your server means there needs to be more players overall to have a pvp experience.

................................................
“The corollary to that is if you’ve seen a game consolidate servers, you know it’s in deep, deep trouble — that’s not a healthy sign for an MMO,”
"Look at us six weeks out. If we’re not adding servers, we’re not doing well.” - MJ from Warhammer in July Interview

Vespers  10/18/08 7:20:20 AM

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Originally posted by AmazingAvery

Originally posted by SinReaper

 Let's get back to the original topic on this post if possible; as it's a good topic for discussion.


 
Good idea. And I am sorry if I came off harsh and thank you for your comments as always.
Here is a question for you. Do you think people would pay between say $5 / $10 / $20 to transfer their character in preference to an actual server merge? Should FC charge for a transfer or do it via server merge somehow, but free?
Say if your on Server A and Funcom merges with Server B, but really you wanted to go to Server C but their might be a cost involved.
P.S. I am running around Ymir's Pass at the moment ;)



Well, you asked 2 questions here.
 Do you think people would pay between say $5 / $10 / $20 to transfer their character in preference to an actual server merge?Yes. There are some people who dont care about cost. These people will pay anything as long as it gets them what they want. Now, are these type of people the majority of MMO players? Nope, they are very much the minority. If FC thinks they can charge folks to transfer a character from one server to another(instead of a server merge) then FC will be viewed as a company that only cares about players who are willing to pay extra for what should be done for free.
FC should have their server mergers without charging any player anything extra. Also, after the server mergers, FC should have a 2 week period where all players can transfer their characters for free. After that 2 week period, they can charge what they want.
Pretty much every MMO that I have played has some type of server transfer system that charges a fee. Many charge about $50 per transfer. However, whenever there are significiant server changes like mergers, then there is always a free character transfer period.
With that said, I wouldnt put it past FC to try to squeeze a few more dollars out of their current player population.
My question to FC is this....
Will you do the right thing and merge your servers and then allow the players to have a time to do free character transfers, or will you stay true to your past form and milk each dedicated player for everything you can until there are only a handful of players left that actually subscribe to AOC?

Before anyone asks what FC has done in the past, I would use as one example the charging of $5 for a download fee during early access. This is the only time I have seen this type of behavior in my 12 years of MMO playing and have yet to see it from the couple of MMOs