So SOE, when are you going to actually fix all the overpop issues that ALMOST EVERY SERVER IS SUFFERING FROM. This is ridiculous and whats even more ridiculous is that there are many simple fixes to this and you have done nothing. Why are you just ignoring it like nothing is going on? You can lock a faction to only have a certain amount or percent of players on at a time, allow only one faction character per server, make a cool down on switch characters that are on the same server.
I don't know about other servers, but this is a serious problem,especially during alerts. The TR was kicking butt all day, and then this alert happened. The Zerg came through, and neither the TR nor the NC stood a frickin chance. Maybe if we'd gotten more people to Ikanam, we could have staved off defeat until the end of the alert and gotten away with one Biolab. I didn't have a problem with Alerts until the Tech Plant, Amp Station, and Biolab alerts were introduced. I don't think they're fun. I already don't really like those locations as it is. Now that Alerts focus so heavily on them, particularly Biolab alerts, they feel like a chore. We throw so many corpses at capturing all this territory, and then Biolab alert, everything you'v done is more or less worthless unless it has something directly to do with biolabs. Land grabs are fun. They're a blast. I understand why these new Alerts exist, it's to prevent any one continent from being overflowed due to alerts. But with utility alerts, the only things that matter are the utilities. The surrounding territories are important by default, and that's it. And god forbid you get zerged! They're even more susceptible to mob attacks than land grabs. I like the idea of utility alerts, but I don't like the locations and how they're played out. Biolabs in particular are heinous and chaffing, and they happen *all the time.*
Server transfers! I hope they don't merge servers, I would hate to see all 3 continents lit up like xmas trees. Some of us actually like small-scale 1-12 and 12-24 fights.
Server transfer tokens will be so fun... All the NC from mattherson are going to buy tokens to waterson.. All the VS on waterson are going to buy tokens to mattherson.. (then SOE will merge them..)
That is a possibility, but usually these things tend to balance out. Everyone likes balanced teams. In fact, they could have free server transfers from Mattherson for VS and for NC from Waterson.
My possible fix for population imbalances: Make a duel arena simulator in the VR training, that can hold duels for inter-faction outfits/squads/players. This can be a mini-game but doesnt affect real world stats. (or maybe you get only 20% of what you get in real world) Advantages: More pilots. (pilots can get better by challenging each other) If a continent is full cuz of an alert, this will be a good option for players to come and spend time. ES weapon balance, will be more prominent from these duels and stuff. (how weapons work in 1v1 situations and stuff)
lol, no one likes balanced teams, everyone wants to roflstomp the enemy with 9:1 pops.. don't you see how the game is now? The could split up and have even fights, it doesn't happen, you get 48+ in one lane and 0 in the lane next to it.. The only ones crying for balanced teams are side getting zerg facerolled. You don't see 100 threads a day about how it sucks to be on the winning team do you?
I see those as commonly as I see the usual ones about how it sucks to be on the underpoped team. In fact, you were one of the people that complained about being on the overpoped faction, while at the same time, that you don't have any sympathy for the underpoped.
Um... I am currently playing VS on waterson. I know you can't tell that from my sig, but my sig goes with this forum name.. My NC has pretty much been retired since they merged it from jeagers. I might play it for 2 hours a week.. just to get my WDS stuff. Yes, I complain about playing on the overpop faction, it is boring! Unfortunately.. most of the playerbase seems to want to zerg it up with the overpop faction and think it is fun as long as you win. I have 3 characters on waterson, one of each faction. I have no sympathy, I went through the time and trouble of making 3 characters so I never have to care about pop issues. I think everyone else should do the same, that way if there is pop balance problems, they can play another faction.
Throw them under the surface of Amerish, which is a place I found exists due to an awkwardly placed sundy today, while the the TR and NC have glorious Prowler on Vanguard battles.
Server transfers won't help, except by making the problem worse as people flee from servers where their factions have low pops. SOE has even offered character transfers to multiple VS outfits on Mattherson so they could move to Waterson and not lose any progress, but all of them declined.
Populations are (generally) balanced at the start of the alert, what happens over the next two hours (for any alert that starts after 10pm easterns) is: TR fails to hold ground, so TR members get discouraged and start logging off. NC fails to do anything coherent, so NC members get discouraged and start logging off. VS takes territory, feels happy, they don't logoff. End result is 40-50% VS population on the server by the end of the alert. You can lay about 50% of that problem squarely at the feet of the outfits on NC/TR side who don't cooperate with each other, who don't open up platoons, or they don't bother playing the alert objectives. The other 50% is SOE's fault, because they don't reward the underdog enough. SOE needs to bring back the server level bonus, make it as large as the continent bonus, then stack it with the continent level bonus. There should be an incentive for attacking the leading faction, like a 30% bonus. If players were seeing bonuses of +100% to +150%, they might be more willing to fight against the odds and try and hold out.
I think that the population chart needs to start showing population change over time per faction. Because as noted VS don't win because they have 50% population compared to the rest. It's that the relative % skews to them because the others leave and VS stay the same. (external sites show this). Permanent server transfers aren't a fix for this problem, they would make it worse. But it's what players who already don't want to play for their faction want, a more permanent "log off" option. Nobody wants to leave their home community (assuming they have any roots there) to go to some other place for a definite harder life with no promise of being able to go back. The true solution (beyond some serious morale improvements) is server guesting being offered to factions that have skewed above the relative population of their enemies. That is temporarily while server populations are 50% VS on mattherson (this is really rare, but again is not cause by VS but cause by the other factions), VS only should get a warp option to warp (as a whole platoon/squad) to continents on Watterson (or some other server where VS are needed at that exact time). Where they can fight for bonus XP on the lower pop faction. You can't balance population around the lowest population, they can't just pull new soldiers from nothingness. But you can probably motivate those that are already successful to play for higher stakes. Also we should just get hard numbers on current population. So people can stop using % as a measure of strength. If VS have 300 players for 12 hours straight, people should see/read that as being a consistent population. Not as sometimes being 30% pop and sometimes being 50% because of what enemies do. It makes discussing this whole thing very difficult when some players don't have a great understanding of math.
