Producer's Letter: August 2015 Updates

And how are you folks any different then? Wanting to hold up an entire process that will help so many people? All over a few character names?

It is not balance if the needs of the few override the needs of the many.

Oh BS. The only people who don't care about the names of their toons are those who hit random everything then chose a server.

Speak for yourself bub. Names are just names. I make them up all the time. My identity is no more encased in a cartoon image than in my big toe. And if yours is...then its your problem.

People have been ragging SOE/DBG for years about server merges. Now its finally going to happen. And the whine is incessant.

I think it's not completely exact
I can have the max amount of my toons on the French server, the max amount of the EU English server and the max amount on the US English one, It seems so strange whether it is, that it is about a problem of number of toons by language of server. I just experienced it, as I was to max account on Storms (Fr French) and wanted to create toons on US English to play a bit with TLE. No problems I could create one toon then a second one

Like I said, you are probably one of those "hit random all and go" people. Just because you don't care about your character's name doesn't mean that the people who do are wrong and that you are right.

You are inferring quite a bit about someone you don't even know.

But, to throw it back to you...Just because you "care" about your characters names over giving so many people a new chance to play in viable groups again doesn't make you right.

No matter what a gaming company decides to do...the only guarantee they have is that a lot of people will hate it.

if you don't care about your name and toon, all well and good. but there are those of us who have played the game for a long time- long before it was f2p. we built up our toons and our reputation. we view this as more than a game. it is a social outlet and a community. i have met people from all over the world on the game. i also am very involved in my server and the people on it who form the community.

for those to whom it is just a game, fine. then you simply play it and don't worry about what happens. to those of us for whom it is way more, why knock us? we have time and money invested in the community that built up here. on our servers and on the forums we have made friends we don't want to lose. some people i would never have known except that i met them in the game. and if the game disappears i will never talk to them again because they are not on any other networks.

they know me, not by my real life name, but by my toons. they identify me by my toon. it is our interface. to say that just because you haven't built up that sense of community no one else has the right to is simply wrong. the reason many of us are speaking out is because we happen to care about the game and about the community on it. it is not about a bunch of numbers somewhere. it is about real, live people who come together to build something - like a guild or a community on a server. if you wipe names, that is all destroyed and some may never find each other again.

If you seriously think the mergers are going to fix the reason people avoid PUGs, you're delusional.

A lot of us have viable groups to play with, we play with friends, friends who we identify through the name of their characters.

As for the idea of PvP on the consolidated PvE servers, I would absolutely vote no way. Not if the two different populations exist in the same world.

Now, I am far from the most computer/programming literate person, so I may not fully understand everything that is being said about this "split-server" idea, but if by choosing PvE or PvP, you are sent into a different "instance" of the world--where you do not even see the other people--like if you are PvP, you do not even see the PvE people and vice versa, then why even bother--just to share the broker?

On the other hand, if the idea of "flagging" is used, and everyone is together, well that is a TERRIBLE idea. Why? Glad you asked! This is the system used on WoW (or at least was when I tried it).

While many people bash WoW, I think most would admit that the game is technically very polished and the coding is solid as a rock. But even so, people continually found ways to make those who were "flagged" as "PvE only" drop their flag and become attackable. I still remember a time I was helping my daughter level, and while I was fighting a spider, this 43 Undead guy comes up and starts jumping up and down on top of the mob I was fighting (I was level 40). I just thought "what a moron" and kept killing the spider, but within about 2 strikes, I was auto-flagged PvP and attacked by this imbecile. Karma was with me that day, and my superbly-geared warrior handed him his backside on a silver platter (and yes, with no shame whatsoever, I camped his corpse and killed him 4 more times before he gave up and summoned his corpse ).

In Vanguard, for years there was a way to set-up a macro that would force another player into accepting a duel without them ever doing anything at all. It could even be used to kill AFK toons.

My point is, that no matter how confident a person might be that a flagging system can be implemented that could not be exploited and used for major griefing, ,that person is WRONG. If it exists, some will, sooner or later (usually sooner) find a way around it, and the person who says "Not MY system, they won't" is just arrogant. It will happen.

For years people who wanted more PvP were told "Ain't gonna happen" by SOE.
When Daybreak launched new servers PvP got equal billing with PvE, each getting their own TLE server.
PvP already has their own standard server (Nagafen) which is underutilized.
Now PvP people are wanting PvP on the regular PvE servers too?
Give some people an inch....

Well, server merges are coming. Best to keep an open mind about it. It looks like DB is trying to give you folks options, but its likely that it will suit everyone.

Were I in your shoes, however, I'd be contacting everyone in my friends list and getting their email addresses so I could send them any name changes I had to deal with. So I would not lose contact with them after the merge.

to tell you the truth I am not the best at pvp and I hate getting murdered ,but I was just trying to find a way to get a little pvp on that new server because I found some really nice people on those servers and I am trying to make them happy .
I also think that the worsted of the pvp players either moved on to other games or they went to the locked server if they had the money to get a membership.
My idea was to have something like instances of over land zones for pvp with the same rules that we have on Nagafen right now and entice pve players in by giving players better harvesting and more drops from mobs .
That way its your choice to take the risk I think you should be able to switch in and out of those PvP channels at will so say go in go harvest come back out when your fed up

1) We can't have Nagafen-style pvp jointly on a pve server because Nagafen-style pvp is faction-based and pve is not. It would have to be ffa pvp, possibly with in-group immunity so the people you are grouped with couldn't accidentally (or on purpose) kill you as well as someone else by setting off an AoE. Or will my Gorowyn-based dirge be auto-ungrouped from my Qeynos-based berserker guildmate if we decide to risk the pvp version of the zone?

2) Any attempt to "entice" non-pvpers to go to pvp areas by offering better pve rewards for taking the risk is not enticing non-pvpers to pvp - it is attempting to bait ganking targets. This is particularly true of harvesting, when many of the harvesters will likely be crafters, some of them well under the appropriate adventuring level for the zone they are in, and therefore having enough issue trying to dodge the mobs that can one-shot them, nevermind other players. You want to offer non-pvpers the chance to try open-world pvp without having to roll and level a whole new character, I understand that urge and some people will take up the chance. But the primary reason to be in the pvp zone should be because the player wants to try pvp. Otherwise you're not engaging in PVP, you're hunting deer, and while occasionally a big buck does a hefty number on a hunter, the hunter's the only one in the game that has a chance at having fun.

i so agree with this but i do see another option. naggy has long been referred to a almost empty. possibly because the people who would make a toon there often can't because they don't want to buy another slot and don't have a slot open. also there is the problem with people wanting to try pvp but finding they don't want to be there all the time- hence the battlegrounds. if they could make it so your toon on naggy doesn't count against your whole toon count they may see more people going there. putting pvp in a pve zone won't work. i don't really know what they will do about the pvp server. i don't see how they can really incorporate it into the new server. the only other option i could see would be to create the ability to server hop - jumping to another server for the purpose of grouping or trying out the playstyle.

one of the drawbacks to trying pvp for many people is the fact that you have to level up the toon there. yeah i know, pvp is another type of playstyle and some leveling should be done to learn it. but if they could server hop and play there for awhile, they could learn the style on a higher toon rather than starting from the beginning- which in today's environment most don't have the patience or time for.

good point Lodrelhai you would be bait, I always am. And thanks for not attacking me.
you would have to make shure to leave your money in the bank and such
I think we can come up with something so our bloodthirsty friends can get their fun too
I am trying to find some solution for everybody
battlefields are nice but not the same as open world pvp
I always thought battle field was fun. that's why my first idea was to have that for all servers and you got to mark yourself to be part of it anyway even on the Nagafen on those regular servers it would be mark yourself for doing it and if you just want to do quests you cant be killed through pvp You also cant get anybody into forced pvp because this is triggered by getting close to a tower . so when battlefields is up " STAY AWAY from the towers !!!!!!!!".

I almost never type a name at all any way. I click names to chat or invite.
Maybe DBG could implement something like the Profitui friends list with all the /commands available with the friend selected? I know there are times when you don't' have the name available, but with so many variations of names already, it's not huge difference in the possibility of getting the wrong person any way. XD

Ahem.. balance. Preserving names to not lose players, and merging to not lose players. Both. And your problem is?

Ah. Your problem is that you don't care, so you assume no one else should care either. I see.



And FYI, you are belly aching over us holding up the merger (which is BS, since it's been announced already and estimated at the end of August) but you know, the people who wanted to keep their names and kept suggesting cross-server grouping so the merger people would have more people, and we could keep our names... we're the ones getting really held up AND screwed here. Guess what got bumped off the priority list because of the merger.. Cross server grouping! /gasp

There are a lot of restrictions and changes specifically made for the PVP server, special PVP armor, etc... I think we're safe from the bloodthirsty ones. Gawd, PVP and PVE don't even mix well socially on forums. >.>

what you call me unsocial or something I am the kindest person ever ( looks for double shot riffle and Ladies address )
muahaha .
I am in a guild on Nagafen that's focused on harvesting trade skilling and decorating and most of the members just take care to have good gear in case they get attacked
the pvp gear you can also get on any other server all you need to do is go to battlefields

i haven't ever run the profit ui, but it is a shame all of the commands are not already on the friend's list. in other games they are automatically on it. we should be able to either click the name and send an invite or right click it and send a tell or invite without having to be right by the person to do it. that would solve a lot of problems