[Suggestion] Server mergers

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by oherror, Jan 30, 2013.

  1. oherror

    Been playing since launch on one of the 3 west coast servers that ever reach medium player count. Even with 3 continents only Inder seems to have any fighting. Well i should say the only place that there are major battles. Sure there is fighting on the other two continents but only when one or two platoons decide that they want the buff. But the other two tend to be dead. If SOE merged some of the other servers that are low to make the servers have more activity.

    I feel that the major battles of the beta and launch are long gone. I know this horse has been beaten but lets grind it up some more.
    • Up x 2
  2. Sledgecrushr

    I get into big fights all the time.
  3. Daioh

    yes, this needs to happen
  4. QuantumMechanic

    Well, this is pretty relative I suppose. I only play after prime time hours, so I never even bother logging in except on Friday and Saturday nights. And even then it's very hit and miss. Sometimes I do find "big fights", meaning /who reports up to 120 allies (at most) in the area. But that's still nothing compared to the fights we had both in beta, as well as shortly after release. Other times I can't find a good fight, and after trying for 10 mins I log off and play something else.

    But as much as I agree with OP, I've given up hope on this. SOE isn't going to do server mergers. Not for a long time anyway. They think it'll be bad (news) for the game, but low population servers are worse... much worse.
  5. Accuser

    Because everyone on your server is on the same continent and the same base at the same time?
    Kind of a waste of the other 190km², isn't it?
    And the game is designed so that capturing territory is -supposed- to be more important than just zerging the same base constantly... so if you were playing the game that way, you'd be ghost-capping dozens of completely empty bases.

    That's the real problem with the game (now that pops are low). The goal is to capture territory, but with the hex system the best way to do that is to go around defenders. I think more people would still be playing if we'd had the lattice system at launch, but now I think we need the lattice system -and- server merges to keep enough big battles going.
  6. ComradeWinston

    They seriously need to merge some servers, Waterson feels pretty dead anywhere that isn't the ******* crown.
    • Up x 1
  7. Marked4Death

    Smed already said they have a different plan for low pop servers (it was a tweet about a week ago, CBF finding it)
    I'd say it's unlikely they will merge servers for a while, but pull out some sort of sorcery, such as "cross server play". Effectively merging 2 servers so you can play with or against ppl on server 2, but still making appear that you are logging into your original server 1.
    Just a guess, expecting something like that.
  8. Llaf

    This horse needs to be beaten so badly it becomes ground into a fine powder and eventually condensed into a quantum singularity so infinitely small nothing can detect it.

    Server merges need to happen, period.
    • Up x 2
  9. PharmD

    The only thing I can imagine these "other plans" beings are mega servers similar to how ESO will run. I doubt Sony has this in the works though, so I really don't know what they have in mind.
  10. QuantumMechanic

    Basically how Guildwars 2 works, where you can pick the server you play on each time you log into the game.

    But I think you guys are being too optimistic. Paid server transfers are still in the 6 month plan. So their "plan" for low pop servers will NOT be something that lets you choose a different server to play on.

    I'm thinking they are going to try to give incentives for people to play on low pop servers. Bonuses to resources, XP etc. And that's going to fail miserably.
  11. Naivesteve

    This game needs a high population, period. This isn't an instanced RPG.
  12. Marked4Death

    You guys are right, the other plan for low pop servers may just be to call Toboscus back to play on them :)
  13. HannaDest

    Who ? :p
  14. PharmD

    No, Guild Wars 2 used to have free server transfers that were limited at first to every 24 hours, then 7 days, and now it's paid and it's dynamic based on population. So higher populated servers have a hefty price to transfer to and and lower ones are pretty cheap. You can also guest now which means every time you log in you can play on any server you want for free(limited to 2 including your own every 24 hours) with the exception of wvw. To play on a different wvw server you need to pay.

    But yeah I agree that if that is their plan it will fail miserably.
  15. Lord Robert

    I think they just believe that they need more players, not less servers. So they are doing things like the UES to try to draw more people in. Now they are going with the MLG thing, and whatever next months promotion plan is. I think they are just waiting for the issue to resolve itself as the game grows in size and as people find out about it and give it a try.

    The problem is, is that the longer they have dead servers where people are not able to experience the "true" planetside experience, the fewer players they have, and the bigger the problem grows. I personally know a few people who are just not logging in until they can get a transfer for their main character, or the server tokens are released. This exaggerates the problem. Also, new players who join dead servers don't get to experience the big battles feeling as much, or at all, and are much less likely to stick around, when compared to someone who was playing from the start and remembers all the fun they had.

    Server mergers need to happen quickly, so that everyone can have a better experience, and then if the game grows with its development and new features in the future along with some successful promotions, then they can reopen closed servers or add new ones. Every day there are dead servers is a day the game is less attractive and less likely to be a long term success.

    This issue needs to be addressed soon before it spirals out of control. It should be as serious of an issue as cheaters or game crashing bugs.
  16. QuantumMechanic

    The guesting system they just added is what I was referring to. Basically you can play on any server you like, free of charge. I guess they have some restrictions on how often you can do it, but it's not a bad deal at all.