Time to merge servers? - Page 3

Lonehunter · 2012-12-15, 03:55 PM

NO company would do that this soon just for PR reasons even if they did need it, but THEY DON'T.

Even when they add new continents we'll be fine. It's nice to have some continents a huge war and some empty or small battles, you hold it longer and it's just more persistent territory control

Mathematics · 2012-12-15, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by Hamma

You guys realize what kind of statement it would make if they merged servers a month after launch

There comes a certain point when the statement made is less important than keeping activity high for new customers. If a new player joins a server without much action, they're going to spend an hour running around a massive continent alone and then quit out of boredom. This isn't a game that is conducive to low populations. If there is no action, people won't play, and that's likely to lose more customers than a server merge.

Hamma · 2012-12-15, 04:24 PM

It's extremely unlikely to happen in the near term. It would make a horrible PR statement. server merges have long been the final nail for many games.. never gonna happen.

Sardus · 2012-12-15, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by Hamma

Server merges a few weeks after launch?

Not gonna happen.

Yah pretty much what I thought. It would be terrible for PR.

AThreatToYou · 2012-12-15, 06:14 PM

Originally Posted by Hamma

It's extremely unlikely to happen in the near term. It would make a horrible PR statement. server merges have long been the final nail for many games.. never gonna happen.

I think it's desperately needed, though. The only times where PlanetSide 2 becomes PlanetSide 2 are at prime-time. As it is, everyone pools on the continent their empire owns and never leaves, resulting in a huge population disparity. It's unfun, until primetime comes and enough people bother to fight on another conts.

EVILoHOMER · 2012-12-15, 06:41 PM

Yeah my server never has any big fair fights any more, it used to when the game launched but now the population is too spread out and all the zergs stick to staying on the winning side because losing is no fun in the game. I mean if you try to fight back you don't get rewarded for defending, and they'll just send more of the zerg at you anyways while your empire is somewhere else as they've all bailed. Plus you lose resources and vehicle timers stop you from doing much.

Rivenshield · 2012-12-15, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by AThreatToYou

As it is, everyone pools on the continent their empire owns and never leaves, resulting in a huge population disparity. It's unfun, until primetime comes and enough people bother to fight on another conts.

They need to unfuck both defensive and strategic gameplay in order for that to happen, bro. More advertising AFTER the unfuckery would help a lot, too.

Pursuant to that last: I continue to maintain that the beginning of next summer is going to be make or break for PS2. At that point it will be polished and ready to go, hopefully. And we'll have tens of millions of teens and college kids with lots of time on their hands.

Mathematics · 2012-12-15, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by Rivenshield

They need to unfuck both defensive and strategic gameplay in order for that to happen, bro. More advertising AFTER the unfuckery would help a lot, too.

Pursuant to that last: I continue to maintain that the beginning of next summer is going to be make or break for PS2. At that point it will be polished and ready to go, hopefully. And we'll have tens of millions of teens and college kids with lots of time on their hands.

Many are going to have plenty of time on their hands over winter break and will probably give it a whirl since it's free. Could potentially disuade a lot of them from playing next summer if first impressions aren't good.

Rasgriz · 2012-12-17, 06:41 AM

Desperately needed, populations dwindling.

I would love to see a server with 3 continents with battles on a Saturday night but apparently the definition of "High" population is about 55% at cap.

Discuss.

p0intman · 2012-12-17, 06:43 AM

There is no way SOE can defend from the growing exodus!

See what I did there?

Rasgriz · 2012-12-17, 07:05 AM

They might do the thing they did with SWG and keep lowering the amount of players that triggers a "Medium" and "High" server pop displaying.

Frankly one US West and one or two US East servers would be plenty.

Atleast knock out one of the US East servers, they just sit there at low.

Sledgecrushr · 2012-12-17, 07:16 AM

So folks got on, died a couple of times, didnt understand what was going on and went back to their favorite arena shooter. If SOE can not provide the new singleplayer a cohesive experience then this game isnt going to grow very fast at all. Being from a mmo background I understand and love ps2 for what it is. But someone who has casually played cod or bf3 might not get it. And the millions of cod and bf3 fans are the people that are going to drive this game.

So we need a background story so new people understand auraxis and why its at war. We need a tutorial explaining classes and how certs work. We need a place to practice driving the different vehicles and using the various guns and other tools available in the game. And we need the mission system so that new and old players will be able to contribute to the war effort and see these endeavors rewarded.

Neglecting the new solo player is biting soe in the ass and they need to fix it immediately.

Qwan · 2012-12-17, 07:48 AM

Well I think that they need to look at PS Lore its all over you tube and stuff,
I think thats a pretty good story.

I mean when I play BF and CoD there really isnt a story or purpose on Multiplayer. Its just take the points and make the enemy run out of points before you do. In PS2 there are no points to run out of, but certain bases take on significance, you feel it when you loose that tech plant. I think the bio dome cature benefit should be more obviouse its so suddle no one really notices. I think that players would feel more of a urgency to capture certain bases if they could see and feel the difference in the fight if they lost certain large bases.

Juryrig · 2012-12-17, 08:19 AM

Originally Posted by Qwan

Well I think that they need to look at PS Lore its all over you tube and stuff,

There is a lot of good information on Youtube, BUT - expecting (in fact, requiring) your customers ('cos that's what the players are) to look 'elsewhere' for an explanation of how your product works, and what makes it different, and better than the competition....that's just bad business practice.

Many people will be quickly turned off by their initial experience, and won't bother going to Youtube or anywhere else to look for information or guidance - they'll just log off and try a different game.

And as a supplier, SOE shouldn't expect them to do anything else. They need to entice new customers in, not require them to go to third party sources to work out how their product works. Granted the basic controls are the same as many other shooters, but the overall experience and mechanics are different. Which is what should make the game great (eventually), but for now it's just a barrier to understanding, and IF SOE want to attract and retain customers then they need to address this.

CaptainTenneal · 2012-12-17, 11:55 AM

I really wish characters were not bound to servers. If everyone could pick there server at the start of each game, we'd always have at least one packed server. The game looks dead if anyone tries for the first time during the day. Very bad for keeping them interested!