Server move poll on Antonia Bayle

I totally agree. More rants needed. Especially on certain classes being nerfed.

I don't really agree. SLR has a negative side, but really it's no different to buying off the broker. Some people will take that route and get bored because there's nothing left for them to do, and others will play the game the way it's designed to progress.

The reason AB is so popular is because people choose that second route. They want to play the game and they need others to do that, so they go to the server with the most people so they can work together to achieve it.

No, you'll have a new server full of CURRENT active players at virtually no cost to anyone. It would be free to transfer so anyone that wanted a higher population server could move there. In a nutshell, it would become the closest thing to a 'megaserver' so many people want, except it would only be active accounts and not full of ancient data from players that haven't logged on in a decade. You need to understand server mergers require a LOT of resources, nearly all of it wasted since the inactive players on those servers aren't coming back. It would be more practical to just shut them down and delete the data than merge them if the active players on there had options to get off. They could mark those accounts in their subscriber database and if they did come back, give them a couple of heroic character credits and call it even.

Face it, if every person that logged into this game in the next six months were transferred to one server it still wouldn't compare to what it was on one original server a decade ago. Those that don't want it can stay on the other less populated servers. DBG doesn't have to use a ton of resources, players have full options available to them at no cost. At the very least it stops more people from quitting because they live in ghost towns and do not want to. At best, it brings old players back, possibly new players since there would be a truly thriving server. It's win, win for everyone.

No it's not.

My wife and I are seriously considering moving to AB. The other servers are dead.

And if I were on AB I wouldn't move if we had to lose the guild. In fact, it's the guild that keeps us from having moved to AB already.

Maybe you guys should have left the other RP server up and this wouldn't have happened...

I wish they'd do something like this. Unfortunately giving everyone exactly what they've been asking for, free to players and nearly free to SoE with revenue potential is just too logical. More angry complaints without sensible ideas please!

It didn't include this in my quote. IMHO it's a long term solution that resolves all population complaints, short term solution to overdue server mergers or shut downs, but pleases everyone now.

Some of us are on AB, and stay on AB, because it is the designated RP server. The trouble with your option is that the highest-use server is also the RP server, so if new users don't get the option of joining the highest-use server, they wouldn't have the option of RP server.

Besides, limiting your choices of server when you first make your character can disallow you from joining your friends. Say someone has chatted up this fun game to you, so you decide to try it and make a character to play with your friend. But your friend is on a high-pop server, and you don't have the option to choose that server when you create your character. And then you're told you have to spend MORE money to transfer to that server? I doubt that customer would ever play.

With the dearth of advertising about this wonderful game, I'm pretty sure it spreads primarily by word-of-mouth. We need to allow people the option of playing with their friends, even if their friends are on the high-pop server.

You can RP on any server....just saying.

I role play as a house decorator on permafrost daily.. hell some even offer to pay me play to decorate for them

I would really appreciate it if others would not presume to speak for me. Unless of course I'm one of those "nobody" folks.

Well Stated. Lets realistically review the demand that some make that the servers need to be merged because the population is too low. While were at it examine the statement that those wishing to leave because they prefer less densely populated servers not leave.

• Moving players that prefer the less populated world hurts no one. In fact, it would free up spots for those craving those highly populated servers.
• Forcing players that don't wish to participate in groups/raids and simply enjoy a quiet world into some Mega-Server tarnishes the play style that they enjoy.
• Playing in an MMO does not mean that people should be forced to group/raid with others or suffer the consequences. The casual world is much larger than many perceive and the exit of such players would hurt the games revenue greatly.
• They did not make so many investments in the game to allow solo/molo/duo play because they wanted to throw money out the window.

This exactly ^^^.
I do not know how "typical" I am, but in my own case, I can say that I, a casual solo/molo player, have spent quite a bit of money on this game:

*Two accounts subbed, one going all the way back to 2003 if you count the time I spent exclusively in EQ1 on this account. It went to Station Account (the old All-Access) in (~2006?) and I added a second subbed account (~2010?).

*On those two accounts, I have 21 characters:

***All 21 are wearing appearance gear from the cash shop, and some consumed more than one set, as I mixed-and-matched to get exactly what I wanted, so probably more like 30 sets of appearance armor purchased. Several also wield appearance weapons, and once again, bought multiples to get the exact weapon/shield wanted.

***17 out of 21 of those characters also consumed an AA bauble, also purchased from the cash shop.

***18 of the 21 characters also have at least a ground mount from the cash shop, and many of them also have a flyer. A couple of them have a glider or leaper from the cash shop as well.

*14 Prestige homes bought from the cash shop for cash--this does not include the Mistmoore Craigs Estates I received as a veteran reward, or the Kromzek Keep purchased with loyalty tokens--only the ones purchased with cash. Yes, I get 500 SC each month, but that is more than consumed by my obsession with unlocking mercenaries.

*ToV purchased for both accounts, and AoM purchased for my "main" account--and a future purchase of AoM for my second account, as soon as the budget allows. (Whole expansions I usually buy as soon as they come out, or as soon as I can afford, but [as I found out by playing TSW] DLC is only purchased as needed, and I move through content very slowly!)

*Mercenary feature purchased for both accounts, Freeblood race purchased for main account, reforging to be purchased for both accounts soon (as I have just now started to need it), possible Aerakyn purchase in next few months--if I am still confident in the game by then.

I could add a ton more, like all the things used to fill the houses, but the message is already clear--casual solo/molo players add a considerable amount of the funding to keep the game open and viable, and I would venture to say without them, it would be RIP EQII.

Trying to force me to play your way will never be successful. Like I told an old boss of mine once, when he said he was gonna MAKE me do something: "Even when I was a teenager, my Father couldn't MAKE me do anything, and I love that Old Man. I don't even particularly like you, so what chance do you think you have?" Ain't happening Bubba. It's not like this is the only game I play either. I still play and enjoy TSW and AoC as well. But it is the last in the SOE/Daybreak stable that I am interested in at all, so if I walk, it will not be like when Vanguard closed, and I simply threw my extra time and money into EQ II instead--it will be the end of a long decade+ of game play and customer loyalty. There is room for all play styles in EQ II, but do not try to use solo gamers to support your chosen play style--we don't like being used any more than you would.

why would you use L100 adventure level as a metric? that would (a) require the expansion, (b) require that someone already max their character, and (c) exclude crafter types.

what was the previous f2p cap? L92? if you were to query the number of characters that were L93 (or above) on either adventure or crafting class that would give you a better fix on how many characters (a) have census on, (b) have been active and near-max since the AoM cap increase (for f2p) or since ToV cap increase (for all-access members).

New F2p cap is 95, as CoE, third expansion from newest, had levelcap 95, and f2p content is everything but two latest. So, it would require 96+ characters.

right, but the goal isn't to find how many players own AoM, it's to estimate how many active characters there are on a server. if you count only 96+, you exclude everyone who doesn't own AoM, whether they're f2p or not.

anyone L93+ (adv or ts) either owns CoE, ToV, and/or AoM and attained L93 prior to AoM's release, OR attained L93 after AoM's release. either way, it establishes near-max activity since mid-november 2012 (the release of CoE).

Just have to say, I'm an active player with about 15 characters between two servers (FP and AB), and not a single one is a level 100 adventurer, and won't likely be for a rather long time. Endgame simply doesn't interest me. Counting active players by counting characters of a certain level is a very, very flawed strategy.

NO. I will not move.

Here's a radical thought...

ADVERTISE.

Let players out there know how awesome these games are and always have been. It doesn't need to be a big production like what SONY (not even sure it was SOE, but the studio itself) did back in 2004, where it looked like they blew all their ad money on one big ta-dah sort of campaign. Beautiful, but not nearly as effective as the saturation that WoW did. :-/

That being said, SOE never recovered from that cluster--bombing that SONY did with the disastrous Pro7 deal. A lot of long-term customers rage-quit over a complete lack of information for the longest time, and an apparent complete lack of concern for the EU player base (or anyone from anywhere who might think of going to the EU for any reason for any length of time). Not only did they pull out of long running accounts, they frequently TOLD everyone, even outside the community, why they were outraged. Word of mouth can kill as well as rejuvenate. :-/

Reach out in advertising, let people know we're not with SONY any more ("Yes! SOE has changed its name! We're not with them any more! Please come back! We're different now!"), but just advertise. Please. :-/

That way, the other servers will fill up from without, rather than worrying about it from within!

EDIT: advertising suggestion that I've always looked for: spread out the number of venues where people can find game cards. Not everyone goes to Wal-Mart (I, for one, refuse to set foot in one), and I've seen gift cards for just about every company in every store imaginable, even the Post Office. Blanket-spread, and make it clear it's for ALL the games in the stable.

All that being said, Holly was saying it was an option; no one's going to force folks to move from AB at gunpoint. :-/

Uwk
who LIKES quiet servers, and when looking to sign up more baby alts, would frequently seek those out