So this just happened on Miller during an alert (4:20 pm)

I'm sorry Luperza, and thank you for taking the time to respond, but given the trend on Miller has steadily been towards the TR in spite of the relative XP being linked to map changes. It's at least in Millers case proving ineffective. Indeed the alerts change almost washed it away entirely.

On top of the 'empire specific recommender servers for new characters'. Id also suggest that after certain thresholds of overall world and map under population, the XP starts jumping up in a non-linear progression, perhaps even to the point where if your at say 10-15% its the the 70%-80% range without subs/boosts included.

However the issue remains, for 4th fractioners at least, if certs are the primary goal, you make more riding the crest of the far larger TR force, than you do being kerbstopped as an NC / VS when it turns up in front of you. A large XP bonus is only so good, when leaving the spawns in the 3-5 bases you still hold is mostly a death sentence and most of the enemy forces are camped out of our line of sight.

I appreciate its a tricky issue. I also appreciate that changes in the works like SCU cap mechanics, might help a bit. However, I would advocate that given its prevalence across a number of servers, more progressively more forceful demographic intervention on SOE's part is sorely needed.

From an outfit SL/PL perspective, game mechanics being what they are. Getting my boys and girls to stand to play 'not only tragic, but futile defenders' on a regular basis is proving difficult. And the only other option, ghostcap their flanks is about equally engaging as looking at the respawn screen or sitting in a spawn.

I also think empire switch timers are a good idea. Though again, I don't see how any one 'subtle' nudge like this could solve it.

And I'd really not rather have people prevented for say playing with their friends. But at some point of the overpopulation issue that has to be on the cards. We are not there yet, but we might reach it.

There needs to more than a few .game is kinda dead overall.

I believe the word you're looking for is... once?

Yes. People should not just be able to switch factions on the same server without waiting a while. Put an hour on the timer for starters.

Why in the world this isn't implemented yet is beyond me. Put 24-48 hour timers between classes of the same server to put a clamp on this.

Repeatedly I've seen people who play their TR log their TR within 5 minutes of an Alert onto their NC to get the benefits of the cap.

That just is simply not acceptable.

ITs not the root of the problem though I think. Its a fairly safe bet that TR are going to be the predominant fraction at prime time atm and so if you were '4th fraction' why even log onto your NC or VS. Its at the point where there is a fairly significant snowball effect.

I'm willing to have a suite of smallish changes deployed and seeing what happens. I worry however these won't be enough.

The point I really want to try and get across, is firstly the urgency before Miller the server that weather the population storms, community really starts to hurt. Secondly, the need for there to be several changes in concert.

Also the obvious flipside of the 'char switch lock' issue, is if your trying to incentivise people off one fraction with XP bonuses and they have already logged into their char on the overpopulated fraction. That incentive just became moot.

ive said it in forums..youve said it in forums..others have said it in forums. If there is no timer then the devs obviously like it the way it is.. heck they prob like jumping factions too.

A lot of TR have picked up this already and use it against the VS. Simply threaten the cap on Indar for the first hour to pull the VS out of the alert, then steamroll the alert continent for the second hour.

The idea is that if they do implement such a thing, they'll only hurt paying members, since the ftp crowd won't care for one account and just switch to another to play.

24 hours is a bit too severe. I'd say the length of the alert would suffice. That way people would be committed from the start on one side for the duration and won't be locked if they want to play another side the same evening.

Well, the downside to that is that you're basically ghostcapping the alert continent. That sounds pretty exciting ... not really hehe.

I don't see how you're hurting the FTP crowd. SOE either takes a strong stance against 4th empire play or they don't.

Having players swap accounts to leech off of EXP just doesn't seem right, I'm a paying customer, and I don't give a frack if this hurts people who think it's OK to have multiple toons on the same server.

IF SOE implements a timer, give people a one time character transfer so they don't lose their investments. Go take your second alt-char to another server to continue to play it.

Ghostcapping? How can taking the VS out of the picture = ghostcapping. Or are you forgetting about the NC?

Won't work if you have to log in to each of your characters every 24 hours to get your passive cert gain.

Helios has been suffering from massive NC overpopulation for ages.
Can you maybe fix that one while you are at it?

Yeah we are just so damn happy to have it, it is a beacon of hope for the vanu sovereignty. If we lost it we would be doomed and forever warp gated.

Ok, but as a paying member, the game forces me to log on to each character I have EVERY DAY in order to collect the passive certs. If I am restricted from collecting the certs I paid for on all my characters, there will be hell to pay!

I think you read what i said backwards. The only people that will be affected by the timer restrictions will be the people that are paying for their accounts, whether they are premium or buying guns/cosmetics. The FTP crowd can just switch between accounts.

You are looking it in terms of goal, I'm looking it in terms of entertainment. Yes, a continent with only two factions will be easier to control. A server with 90% TR will also easier to control (artificially inflated % so my point is clear). How exciting though is it to play on this server and are you going to find good fights to pass your time?