The Problem of Pop. Cap and Server Locking

[ClockworkAug]

Alright, this is an issue that i didnt think about. But now ive thought about it im shocked no one else is jumping up and down hollering about it to the hills.

The character you make is locked to the server. No chance of change, according to SOE. Even with those in the armed forces who move constantly. In their words they want it like that to encourage the community. Which is reasonable, i suppose.

So what happens when the server is overpopped, and im locked out?

It happened today. I was locked out of EU01, and i went to another. Only to remember i didnt have any of my unlocks. Theyre character specific. Except... thats sort of a big deal. Especially since in the future many of them are presumably going to be bought with real cold hard cash.

Essentially there are going to be situations in which i cant play with something i will have bought. And i have no control over that.

Am i going to have to keep two accounts? both fully paid up for the things i love? What happens if both of those lock out too?

And of course, the other huge problem. If i want to ensure i can always play i have to pick a server with a low population. On a game which is only at its best on full high. And we cant set it so one player is always reserved a place on the server, because eventually people will leave or delete characters and itll be a fully booked up reserved ghost town.

I dont want to accuse SOE of being moneygrabbers. But if i wanted to be a mean man, i would suggest that maybe locking us to servers is less about community, and more about the fact they want me to pay as much as possible.

But at this point, this is seriously something that could put me off playing. If im completely uncertain as to whether or not i can even play the game with my account.

its a shame, because i like the idea of growing to know my server-mates. but locking the characters to a server is a huge mistake. What happens when a server becomes a ghost town? Or becomes dominated enourmously by one faction?

Any thoughts on this PSU forum-members?

[Syphus]

Aside from community, there are tons of other reasons to lock your character to one server.

Now, there are PLENTY of situations in real life where you effectively can't use something you bought. Why exactly do you need special treatment here?

Furthermore, you are wrong. The only things that will be able to be bought with real cash are implants and camo, nothing that has any actual impact.

The answer is simple, it lies in continents. The more continents you have, the less likely a complete server is to be locked out.

And, even if you are locked out, not having things I''ve unlocked for a little bit does not somehow disable me from enjoying the game.

[FortySe7en]

No offense, but have you ever played an MMO before? It would be absolutely ridiculous if you could just swap servers whenever you wanted. This would lead to all sorts of future problems.

Servers won't become a ghost town. If they do, I'm sure they will do what every other game does and merge.

If something that has been happening for as long as MMO's have been out is putting you off of playing a game, maybe this isn't the right genre for you to be in.

[Stardouser]

I could have sworn I saw something about offering paid server transfers. That should take care of people who move from US to Europe and vice versa and need to switch servers.

At the same time though, the fact that you have to pay for it should discourage people who will simply leave to go to another server because they're losing and want free resources by transferring to a winning server.

Planetside is a competitive shooter. It NEEDS to discourage such transfers. But I feel I must point out that in games like Everquest, or even WoW, $25 character transfer fees are robbery. They might have been understandable in 1999 when character transfers were manually processed by a customer service person but EQ has long since made it an automatic process.

As for servers becoming overpopulated, I think THAT has to be managed by preventing too many character creations per server on release day. How exactly they will manage that I would like to hear more from SOE about.