This is another example of a company opening too many servers at launch. I played 2 weeks and quit in disgust because A) the game felt like fake PvP but more importantly the population was too spread out and I hardly saw any PvP besides scenarios. If it was packed allowing me to enter mass battles then I may have stayed. Personally I feel all games like AoC and WAR with massive releases should sell subs in stages. Even if its 30k each week. Make sure servers are full and working well then open up another and another. WAR wont reach its potential but then what game does? It will become another game ticking over in the background with a big 'WHAT IF' hanging over it.
I had a guild of 500 on one of the most popular eu servers by November.
In january the active member count was 2-3 per day logging in.
I no longer subscribe.
If the ydo have 300k subscribers id like to bet that 2/3rds are new buyers not resubscribers and even examining EAMythics own figures and server shutdowns it doesnt take a genius to figure that 500k to 300k would not warrant the number of server shutdowns they are doing.
Cross servers wouldn't work that well with the keep ORVR system. The reason why you can only choose one side on a server is so that you can't be a spy for the keeps, and know when they are going to attack, defend, be offline, etc. If you did cross server, you could easily be a spy. Also, in each of the cities, there are going to be statues and whatnot of the best people on the server for different things, most renown, most kills, etc.. And that makes each server a little different, since it is server side, not whole game side.
Indeed and his comment indicates it isnt orvr he and a majority ogf war players are interested in , it is scenarios.
I had a guild of 500 on one of the most popular eu servers by November.
In january the active member count was 2-3 per day logging in.
I no longer subscribe.
Sadly, you see this a lot of other forums on other sites that have Warhammer posters. It seems right now that while a lot has been fixed, it hasn't been the key things fixed up, which is leading to the older guilds populations dropping, as motivation is dropping.
Then when you add on that right now, a lot of the guilds that used to control many of the servers (Destruction) just got hit with a huge nerf to one of their major dps classes (Witch Elf) while Order got a massive buff to their classes, the balance has shifted. So before the most active guilds were Destro with Order was dropping. Now Destros are dropping and there's less and less competition for Order on most servers. This latest shift isn't the direction they'd hope the server merges would produce timed with the nerfs/buffs.
I've said all along, they have time to correct the course, but Mythic seems overmatched at the moment trying to fix its problems since launch.
There is always the hope that the free trial can produce not just people trying the game, its the retention they usually have to worry about with Warhammer.
This actually seems like a smart move on Mythic's part. As everyone has pointed out, you need a good server population to enjoy a lot of the content. (Which probably turned a lot of subs off the game in the first place. Most mmo's these days are soloable.)
I remember my main problem with WAR at launch was that I could never get into high pop servers because of the long queues, and I could never get much done on a low pop server because I could never find anyone for PQ's/scenarios/ORVR.
I've been playing it again for about a week and a half now and it seems to be working on that problem. I've been able to get into scenarios just fine, I've done a lot of ORVR, and people are always looking for help with PQ's. There are still moments where it's hard to do these things, but its usually not durring the server's peak hours, so it's not too big of a deal.
The game isn't without it's flaws, but I've seen some fairly decent improvements in the game since I played it at launch. I'm hoping by the end of the year it will fill out most, if not all, the spots it needs to to be a well polished game.
It was a good move. They had to admit the game has failed on an epic scale when compared to the professional expectations before and right after release. They now scale down to niche MMO, and I wouldnt be surprised if they start working on a new MMO for a new chance at hitting big.
Meanwhile, the problem with these server merges is that they were done pretty badly. Most destination servers are utterly unable to cope with the load at prime time, especially the EU ones are lagging and de-syncing to hell if you are in the main RvR zone around 9 pm.
Also, multiple servers that had a fragile balance of power between the sides were utterly crushed by winning-team-joiners into a lop-sided farmfest, resulting in massive waves of leavers from the underdog side within days of being permanently sieged.
The basic idea was good. The execution, as almost always with Mythic, was very naive and badly done, not taking into account erratic player behaviour.
The entire game, at this point, is a testimony to the fact that you cannot, and should never, rely on people behaving in the forseen and required way to make a game fun.
I just got the game a half hour ago (It's selling for $29.99 at gamestop), so I got on to see if there were any posts regarding sever selections... I didn't get far before I read where someone said something about the server transfer being done in a poor manner and that this was typical of Mythic. Obvously you haven't been around that long or you would be aware that Mythic is one of the best, if not the best developers out there. Dark Age of Camelot is a testament to their ability to create popular and unique games. Whether you like how the server transfer went or didn't, I think the blame should rest on Electronic Arts' shoulders... they have a history of making money grubbing decisions... i.e. closing Earth and Beyond so they could put those resources into another game (which they admitted to doing)... ruining Ultima Online by removing the PvP element and of course, just being money grubbing little piggies in general... oink! oink!
Anyways, my hope is that Mythic might be bought out by a decent, less evil company at some point... in fact the only companies that compare on the sleezy scale are Wizards of the Coast (freaking destroyed D&D in one edition) and Funcom (absolute money grubbers... just try and get your money back from them, even if it's an evident mistake).
There's my rant... just trying to clear some stuff up... if anyone can sugest a good chaos server, I'd appreciate it.
If you're reading this, you probably need to get some sun.
As some people have pointed out the number of servers currently in existence is more of a measure for total success of tha game.
However the fact that they closed 63 servers does indicate something bad. What I think this indicates is somethign that I and many others have faulted Mythic for. Namely that WAR has been one of the worst if not the the worst examples of complete lack of understanding od resource utilization.
It plagues the game from tier 1 to tier 4 from RvR zones to PvE PQ's.
I would go so far as to say that if Mythic actually had clue one about resource utilization they actually would not have need to shut down 50% of those servers as the game would be far better. The game had far too many servers in general right from the beginning. People were too spread out. But even on crowded servers the resources do not flow well together.
Mythic closed 75% of their servers. Consider that. Even if alot of those were empty. They closed 3 times as many servers as they are currently keeping up. That is just boneheaded. Unfortunately this boneheaded, almost completely unconsidered, resource management plagues the game design itself.
It is, IMO, the single biggest problem with the game. This complete lack of understanding or lack of even any attention to how and where and why resources get utilized. Its flabergasting really.
As some people have pointed out the number of servers currently in existence is more of a measure for total success of tha game.
However the fact that they closed 63 servers does indicate something bad. What I think this indicates is somethign that I and many others have faulted Mythic for. Namely that WAR has been one of the worst if not the the worst examples of complete lack of understanding od resource utilization.
It plagues the game from tier 1 to tier 4 from RvR zones to PvE PQ's.
I would go so far as to say that if Mythic actually had clue one about resource utilization they actually would not have need to shut down 50% of those servers as the game would be far better. The game had far too many servers in general right from the beginning. People were too spread out. But even on crowded servers the resources do not flow well together.
Mythic closed 75% of their servers. Consider that. Even if alot of those were empty. They closed 3 times as many servers as they are currently keeping up. That is just boneheaded. Unfortunately this boneheaded, almost completely unconsidered, resource management plagues the game design itself.
It is, IMO, the single biggest problem with the game. This complete lack of understanding or lack of even any attention to how and where and why resources get utilized. Its flabergasting really.
Sums it up perfectly...
I was never going to be a fan of the game because the mechanics and the structure of it just turned me off. However I would have stuck it out for 3 more months post launch if the population was high enough. I always wonder why companies like Mythic who insist on opening 60+ servers dont open them in stages to ensure servers are full. Some may disagree but I feel the way forward for companies with this type of massive launch should limit new subs each day. Even if it was 10k a day for example. This allows players to leave the noob zones and move further into the game to avoid crashing the server on day one.
These days I learnt my lesson about joining an MMO on the first day....hell the first month! You end up sitting in a noob zone waiting 20 minutes for load screen so you can enter a house or something similar.
Either way companies get flamed for their bad launch so they need to be more creative with how they do it. Gamers, dare I say the younger generation have little patience, so if they hit high load times or bugs in the first week they tend to jump. Personally I think the insane hype deliverd by chubby developers 4 years pre launch doesn't freaking help either!
Comments
This is another example of a company opening too many servers at launch. I played 2 weeks and quit in disgust because A) the game felt like fake PvP but more importantly
the population was too spread out and I hardly saw any PvP besides scenarios. If it was packed allowing me to enter mass battles then I may have stayed. Personally I feel all games like AoC and WAR with massive releases should sell subs in stages. Even if its 30k each week. Make sure servers are full and working well then open up another and another. WAR wont reach its potential but then what game does? It will become another game ticking over in the background with a big 'WHAT IF' hanging over it.
I had a guild of 500 on one of the most popular eu servers by November.
In january the active member count was 2-3 per day logging in.
I no longer subscribe.
If the ydo have 300k subscribers id like to bet that 2/3rds are new buyers not resubscribers and even examining EAMythics own figures and server shutdowns it doesnt take a genius to figure that 500k to 300k would not warrant the number of server shutdowns they are doing.
Cross servers wouldn't work that well with the keep ORVR system. The reason why you can only choose one side on a server is so that you can't be a spy for the keeps, and know when they are going to attack, defend, be offline, etc. If you did cross server, you could easily be a spy. Also, in each of the cities, there are going to be statues and whatnot of the best people on the server for different things, most renown, most kills, etc.. And that makes each server a little different, since it is server side, not whole game side.
Indeed and his comment indicates it isnt orvr he and a majority ogf war players are interested in , it is scenarios.
I liked!
less server = high populated servers (i hope)
Sadly, you see this a lot of other forums on other sites that have Warhammer posters. It seems right now that while a lot has been fixed, it hasn't been the key things fixed up, which is leading to the older guilds populations dropping, as motivation is dropping.
Then when you add on that right now, a lot of the guilds that used to control many of the servers (Destruction) just got hit with a huge nerf to one of their major dps classes (Witch Elf) while Order got a massive buff to their classes, the balance has shifted. So before the most active guilds were Destro with Order was dropping. Now Destros are dropping and there's less and less competition for Order on most servers. This latest shift isn't the direction they'd hope the server merges would produce timed with the nerfs/buffs.
I've said all along, they have time to correct the course, but Mythic seems overmatched at the moment trying to fix its problems since launch.
There is always the hope that the free trial can produce not just people trying the game, its the retention they usually have to worry about with Warhammer.
"TO MICHAEL!"
This actually seems like a smart move on Mythic's part. As everyone has pointed out, you need a good server population to enjoy a lot of the content. (Which probably turned a lot of subs off the game in the first place. Most mmo's these days are soloable.)
I remember my main problem with WAR at launch was that I could never get into high pop servers because of the long queues, and I could never get much done on a low pop server because I could never find anyone for PQ's/scenarios/ORVR.
I've been playing it again for about a week and a half now and it seems to be working on that problem. I've been able to get into scenarios just fine, I've done a lot of ORVR, and people are always looking for help with PQ's. There are still moments where it's hard to do these things, but its usually not durring the server's peak hours, so it's not too big of a deal.
The game isn't without it's flaws, but I've seen some fairly decent improvements in the game since I played it at launch. I'm hoping by the end of the year it will fill out most, if not all, the spots it needs to to be a well polished game.
Groovy.
It was a good move. They had to admit the game has failed on an epic scale when compared to the professional expectations before and right after release. They now scale down to niche MMO, and I wouldnt be surprised if they start working on a new MMO for a new chance at hitting big.
Meanwhile, the problem with these server merges is that they were done pretty badly. Most destination servers are utterly unable to cope with the load at prime time, especially the EU ones are lagging and de-syncing to hell if you are in the main RvR zone around 9 pm.
Also, multiple servers that had a fragile balance of power between the sides were utterly crushed by winning-team-joiners into a lop-sided farmfest, resulting in massive waves of leavers from the underdog side within days of being permanently sieged.
The basic idea was good. The execution, as almost always with Mythic, was very naive and badly done, not taking into account erratic player behaviour.
The entire game, at this point, is a testimony to the fact that you cannot, and should never, rely on people behaving in the forseen and required way to make a game fun.
I just got the game a half hour ago (It's selling for $29.99 at gamestop), so I got on to see if there were any posts regarding sever selections... I didn't get far before I read where someone said something about the server transfer being done in a poor manner and that this was typical of Mythic. Obvously you haven't been around that long or you would be aware that Mythic is one of the best, if not the best developers out there. Dark Age of Camelot is a testament to their ability to create popular and unique games. Whether you like how the server transfer went or didn't, I think the blame should rest on Electronic Arts' shoulders... they have a history of making money grubbing decisions... i.e. closing Earth and Beyond so they could put those resources into another game (which they admitted to doing)... ruining Ultima Online by removing the PvP element and of course, just being money grubbing little piggies in general... oink! oink!
Anyways, my hope is that Mythic might be bought out by a decent, less evil company at some point... in fact the only companies that compare on the sleezy scale are Wizards of the Coast (freaking destroyed D&D in one edition) and Funcom (absolute money grubbers... just try and get your money back from them, even if it's an evident mistake).
There's my rant... just trying to clear some stuff up... if anyone can sugest a good chaos server, I'd appreciate it.
If you're reading this, you probably need to get some sun.
As some people have pointed out the number of servers currently in existence is more of a measure for total success of tha game.
However the fact that they closed 63 servers does indicate something bad. What I think this indicates is somethign that I and many others have faulted Mythic for. Namely that WAR has been one of the worst if not the the worst examples of complete lack of understanding od resource utilization.
It plagues the game from tier 1 to tier 4 from RvR zones to PvE PQ's.
I would go so far as to say that if Mythic actually had clue one about resource utilization they actually would not have need to shut down 50% of those servers as the game would be far better. The game had far too many servers in general right from the beginning. People were too spread out. But even on crowded servers the resources do not flow well together.
Mythic closed 75% of their servers. Consider that. Even if alot of those were empty. They closed 3 times as many servers as they are currently keeping up. That is just boneheaded. Unfortunately this boneheaded, almost completely unconsidered, resource management plagues the game design itself.
It is, IMO, the single biggest problem with the game. This complete lack of understanding or lack of even any attention to how and where and why resources get utilized. Its flabergasting really.
Sums it up perfectly...
I was never going to be a fan of the game because the mechanics and the structure of it just turned me off. However I would have stuck it out for 3 more months post launch if the population was high enough. I always wonder why companies like Mythic who insist on opening 60+ servers dont open them in stages to ensure servers are full. Some may disagree but I feel the way forward for companies with this type of massive launch should limit new subs each day. Even if it was 10k a day for example. This allows players to leave the noob zones and move further into the game to avoid crashing the server on day one.
These days I learnt my lesson about joining an MMO on the first day....hell the first month! You end up sitting in a noob zone waiting 20 minutes for load screen so you can enter a house or something similar.
Either way companies get flamed for their bad launch so they need to be more creative with how they do it. Gamers, dare I say the younger generation have little patience, so if they hit high load times or bugs in the first week they tend to jump. Personally I think the insane hype deliverd by chubby developers 4 years pre launch doesn't freaking help either!