A Bittersweet moment

[Motorhead]

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As at 12:45 AM GMT on Werner, the Vanu Sovereignty had locked down 9 out of 10 continents. The only unlocked Cont was Forseral, where the NC had just 2 bases and the TR about 5 (yes NC readers, you had just 2 bases on the entire planet). I don't have a screen shot, so you will have to take my word, or not.

It felt great at the time and I was looking forward to gloating on this here forum, but this morning I have mixed feelings. I have never seen 9 conts locked by anybody, and I've been playing almost every day since retail. What's worse, I only saw a handful of enemy soldiers all night. I was seriously concerned that we would take Forseral too and that there would be nowhere left to fight.

It strikes me that there are only 2 possible explanations: Either the Vanu have suddenly got much more organised on Werner (don't laugh) , or the populations are so low that anomalous and freakish results like this are now possible. The rules of population statistics mean that on a heavily populated server small variations between sides on a given night will more or less balance out. But as populations get lower the effect of any difference (in experience & organisation as well as hardware and equipment) gets magnified. Expect to see this sort of thing happen more often in future unless the population density improves.

So although the moment was sweet, the aftertaste is bitter. Fewer and fewer of my outfit buddies seem to be making it online week by week. I am no longer able to deny to myself that the game I love is slowly fading away.

[Veteran]

Congrats on the continent locks but please spare me the melodramatic hyperbole. PlanetSide isn't 'fading away', it's cycling its playerbase, which any MMO game will do over time. You can't expect a software company to encourage new players and then see the same old faces all the time.

[Motorhead]

Well Veteran I hope you are right, but only time will tell if I am guilty of the hienous crime of melodramatic hyperbole. To me it seems more like a spiral than a cycle. With a cycle you return to the same point that you started at. This is not happening. I have read many posts here and elsewhere from people asking where everyone has gone. I am not the only one to notice. Hell maybe it's different on your server.

Don't get me wrong, there is life in the old dog yet and SOE can take measures to improve density and delay the inevitable for months to come. But the fact remains that popultaions are getting lower, freak results will be more likely as a result, and the long term prognosis is not as bouyant as I had hoped it would be.

[TeraHertz]

May i make a minor correction?
The NC fell back to a SINGLE facility at one point.
http://myplanetside.station.sony.com...rld&worldId=21

[KindredUK]

if you're being fussy about numbers they actually went down to zero bases another few hours later

http://www.planetsidestats.com/?s=co...tats&server=21

Check out the bottom section, it keeps a record of the latest high and low base counts for each empire.

Yours,
Kindred (aka Stats Whore )