Server Discussion

_Grace_Full - Sanctuary

I don't know how things are on other servers, but Raging Tides is getting quite boring. It seems a lot of the players have lost interest in the game, it's even hard to get BH squads going sometimes. I was just wondering, however, if there was any way there could be some kind of action could be taken into trying to getting the player base active again.

I admit, it could be because of the economy on the server as well xD. Cannies are 18k ea, raptures are 95k ea, and they get lower every weekend. Cube necks are like 70m, just nothing is worth much on there anymore. We're lucky if we even see 2 bids per weekend, and whatever TWs there are are usually wined. And its rare to even find anyone PKing ever...


Can we get a server merge like the euro servers, please? Doing this will benefit both pwi and the players. Here's how. If we get a server merge, the first and most noticeable change would be in the PVP aspect. TWs would be active again, factions from both merging servers would constantly be attacking each other. Not only that, but there would be pk..a lot more pk. People from "opposing" servers would always want to prove that theyre "better", you'd be amazed at how some people's epeenors get. This would, in my opinion increase the need for charms and people gearing up which would increase money in pwi's pocket as well, so..just something to consider.

there are plenty more suggestions that can be given, if u feel the need to, please post yours here as well as the state of your server. Sorry for wall of text and if you read, thank you for doing so.

Kiszmet - Heavens Tear

Servor merge would only be a tempory fix, the real problem with the game is lack of in depth end game content. With NW PWI made it extremely easy to get end game gear, once you have end game gear and refines why farm anymore? It dosn't help that the farming methods are extremely boring, (made more boring by the op gears) and eventually people just get sick of it.

If a promising expansion was on the way that might help. But the last three have been lackluster at best and Morai in my opinion was just plain lazy. Throw in the fact that they never finished and pinned down the OHT expansions and you have a massive lack of faith that people arn't going to get over of with just a few new skills and forms.

Its been said numerous times before but with s3 nirvana and r9 the game isn't challenging, it dosn't require a lick of skill, and basically it's just plain dead. PvP is the only place to get any real excitement anymore and some people arn't even bothering to do that due to the poor event times and 1 shot killing.

For this game to be saved it would either requrie a massive overhaul, or a meaningful end game area that required players to be at their peak to survive. (These areas already exist btw, but they were gutted for expansion content so the PWI devs didn't have to make anything new. Warsong city is an example. Its actually FB 110 for Lothranis repurposed for the genie exapanion.) Unfortuneatly, given the way PWI devs "fix" bugs and add "balance" most people would rather they just leave the current game the way it is.

Sister_Warui - Raging Tide

At this point I believe a server merge would or should be in order. And that hurts to say because it means we have lost enough people to do so. But believe it could be more than a temporary fix. East coast servers condensed to one. West coast another. PvP makes more money and with more/different/New people to compete with creates a bigger draw to come back again. I know another reason I play PWI a lot is the social aspect. My friends on here are awesome and I would love to meet new people! Not just low level alts of people I already know. And I think seeing the increased activity would raise the morale of the people already playing. And happy players bring their friends. Plain and simple.
As far as R9 goes it will not be going away so I agree with kiszmet. Make one or two PvE instances without major exploitable glitches that even t3 r9 squads are going to have a bit of a challenge with. And make the prize worth it. No PvE is going to be as challenging as pk but something a little more would help.

Plus the minor/major big fixes that need to happen before some more serious advertising launches. A server merge would be a perfect time to launch that renewed campaign.

Colum - Raging Tide

Didn't Nuff organize a PVP event for next month? If developers or the GM team here can do nothing to entertain us players should entertain themselves. The game is full of possibilities for different kind of events and they can be server wide. Someone just needs to organize them.

Sister_Warui - Raging Tide

I think he still is actually. According to the dates that I last saw at least. I wish I had the gear for it honestly >.<
But even then I wish more people could enjoy that kind of not-by-pwi planning! I do not want you to think I somehow do not enjoy the game. I love it every time I log in. I die a lot in pk but still manage to have fun. I just wish we had more people coming in to realise how awesome this game is with me is all

Annalyse - Heavens Tear

Sister_Warui - Raging Tide wrote: »

East coast servers condensed to one. West coast another.

I don't care what goes on with the East Coast servers, but HT and Sanc are well populated and certainly don't need merged. I absolutely oppose that idea. They'd have to redesign Arch with a separate "catshop only" shopping area to make it feasible or we'd be unable to do anything in the West.

SylenThunder - Twilight Temple

The only possible server merges that could happen are with those that already share the same unique name database.

frankieraye wrote: »

Hmm, this is like one of times in Who Wants to be a Millionaire where "ask the audience" gives the wrong answer.


In fact, name databases are linked into four different groups:


PvE West: HT, Sanc, Archosaur

PvP West: Lost City

PvE East: DW, RT

PvP East: Harshlands

So according to this, Archosaur could be merged into either HT or Sanc, (HT and Sanc shouldn't merge because of the already mentioned populations), and Dreamweaver could be merged into RT.

arpirnat31

The game is failing, I agree with others, because the developers have gotten beyond lazy and no new content of any worth has been introduced in ages... Sure NW is new but let's face it... it's 1 map that is reused 50 times over the entire NW, it didn't exactly take a lot of work.

Everything they are introducing lately has pushed the game towards a pure pvp game, the pve aspect is basically lost anymore and even when people do pve players are so overpowered it's really no fun and no contest what-so-ever.

It was one thing when the game was just 'better' for CS'rs but now if you really want to stand up to these people in pvp you better be a CS'r too or have been around back when making enough money to farm r9 was reasonable, because NW has killed off the profit making people could do via NV and the prices on almost anything farmable has now gone rock bottom, while anything via packs/CS is going through the roof.

I for one have quit this game and enjoy that these forum posts reconfirm my decision to do so. Also, lets face it... if the BEST we can hope for is a forum moderator on the official PWI forums, and couldn't even begin to hope to see an actual developer comment on anything players care about, all is already lost.

Also go look at the forums posts about the +3 def and +3 atk shards coming in to play if you really want to get a feeling for how boring this game will be if you are not a CS'r in the near future.

Mayfly - Dreamweaver

That list is wrong, DW and RT have separate name servers. I have identically named characters on both.

_Dimples_ - Archosaur

Let me give my 2 cents on this one.

First we can't merge with random servers just like that, Servers are actually made because of their time zone, while the Lothranthis (Sorry if I spelled it wrong) and the other EURO server can't merge with us US Time zone because of the massive differences between them.(meaning Time Zone, that's why they move there because their time zone is the same as the servers.. well almost) Merging with other servers are just a waste of time, just take what you have and make a use of it.

Eoria - Harshlands

Make one PVE and one PVP server for each timezone (or two PVE for west coast because HT and Sanc seem to be special snowflakes) and let people decide which server they want to go to. Emphasize that it's a permanent choice and not able to be reversed. As for names, take date created+level into consideration for who should get the name and who will need to have theirs changed.

Seriously. We do need a server merge at this point.

Decus - Dreamweaver

Ew I'd not like to be merged with RT...

TeddyBear - Raging Tide

Decus - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Ew I'd not like to be merged with RT...

Exactly why the merge should happen xD people from both server prolly feel the same and that would cause ppl to be so much more active b:shutup

ponyduck

Merging servers will only bring another transient spike of interest in
existing players before boredom sets in once again. I doubt it would
result in players spending any more money than they already do, and it
really wouldn't be a drawing card for new players. I mean really, what
says "dwindling" more than a server merge? lol

Face it, short of a sea change in the way PW handles this game, I don't
see any fix for it. They've all but stopped putting resources into
getting new people to join. Their focus now is on keeping the existing
player base as long as they can. I hate to be so pessimistic because I
really like this game, but without new blood I'm afraid it's going to
wither & die.

Mayfly - Dreamweaver

While they aren't advertising, there is still a trickle of new players (just ran an FB59 for a seeker who'd never been in the instance before.)

SMASHnHEAL - Dreamweaver

Mayfly - Dreamweaver wrote: »

While they aren't advertising, there is still a trickle of new players (just ran an FB59 for a seeker who'd never been in the instance before.)

Don't assume that is a new player just because they haven't done an instance before. It is just as likely to be someone that has bought FC rooms and now is trying to catch up on culti b:shutup

titotit

If we spam like the euro's did the merge might happen! gogo b:victory

LadyMaraJade - Sanctuary

go have a poke around the starting area's for each race

they do seem pretty much dead of late

there is a lack of newer people coming into the game last few mths

Jacerai - Dreamweaver

Decus - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Ew I'd not like to be merged with RT...

I agree. I would have to learn so many new trolls/scammers. (No offense, RT, but you all would also have to learn the scammers on our side as well)

TeddyBear - Raging Tide wrote: »

Exactly why the merge should happen xD people from both server prolly feel the same and that would cause ppl to be so much more active b:shutup

How would that cause people to be more active? If someone does not like the mash-up enough, they will just quit (or come to the forums and cry about quitting, like people seem to do of late). b:puzzled

SkogDyr - Lost City

TBH, even Lost City is looking like Pripyat after the Chernobyl disaster. Once viable pvp areas are seldom used by more than a dozen. During NW, you are lucky if 1000 people are going for tokens (remembering that many people use 1 or more alts in NW for buffs and ...)

While a pvp server merge might fix the problem in the short term (don't hand me any B.S. about not being able to merge the PVP servers due to naming issues. Just because the devs are lazy doesn't mean it can't be done), the original problems that caused the exodus in the first place still exist.

The only hope for PWI is that Bejing gets tired of the F2P game, sells the F2P rights to another company, fires the current devs who never made it past DOS, and rewrites the code to make it more "work for your power" and less "MMORPGFoodstamps".

scarfaceclaw

_Grace_Full - Sanctuary wrote: »

I don't know how things are on other servers, but Raging Tides is getting quite boring. It seems a lot of the players have lost interest in the game, it's even hard to get BH squads going sometimes.

That's your opinion, not a fact.

Apostasy - Raging Tide

Quoted :

Decus - Dreamweaver wrote:

Ew I'd not like to be merged with RT...

Replied to :

Jacerai - Dreamweaver wrote:

I agree. I would have to learn so many new trolls/scammers. (No offense, RT, but you all would also have to learn the scammers on our side as well)

Quoted : A Reply to Decus of Dreamweaver's post:

TeddyBear - Raging Tide wrote:

Exactly why the merge should happen xD people from both server prolly feel the same and that would cause ppl to be so much more active b:shutup

Replied to :

Jacerai - Dreamweaver wrote:

How would that cause people to be more active? If someone does not like the mash-up enough, they will just quit (or come to the forums and cry about quitting, like people seem to do of late). b:puzzled

All I can say, is "Why so puzzled?" You answered your own question before you asked it b:chuckle

GingerSprite - Sanctuary

Things are boring here on Sanctuary. Can't get into a decent faction unless you're 90+. Can't get any help with anything, and there's no one to grind and do quests with.

This game is dying.

FaithDread - Heavens Tear

GingerSprite - Sanctuary wrote: »

Things are boring here on Sanctuary. Can't get into a decent faction unless you're 90+. Can't get any help with anything, and there's no one to grind and do quests with.

This game is dying.

The game is not dying, the low level area's have been dead for a long time, simply because most of the game is pure grind and its more productive to spend less time grinding at lower levels and grind your *** out at the higher levels.

There isnt that many new players, as far as im aware, but so many people still play the game and new content always brings people back or new people in regardless of how good or bad it is.

A server merge would be excellent, and bring the real feeling of M'assively'MO, but most of the map would have to be redesigned for the high volumes of people, let alone NW and possibly instances.

condo2009

FaithDread - Heavens Tear wrote: »

The game is not dying, the low level area's have been dead for a long time, simply because most of the game is pure grind and its more productive to spend less time grinding at lower levels and grind your *** out at the higher levels.

There isnt that many new players, as far as im aware, but so many people still play the game and new content always brings people back or new people in regardless of how good or bad it is.

A server merge would be excellent, and bring the real feeling of M'assively'MO, but most of the map would have to be redesigned for the high volumes of people, let alone NW and possibly instances.

in 1 paragraph you state the game is not dying. in the next paragraph you state there isn't that many new players. game is dying... read the financial pages to verify. the game has lost 2/3 of it's player base in the past 2 years... down to only 600k from 1.8 mil. also rumours about a buyout this past week.

Dylena - Raging Tide

IMO there should only be PVP servers from now on and only 1 for each "coast" simply because 90% of everything you do on PWI is in an instance so world PVP wouldn't even hurt the players. If you don't like PVPing you can just use the telestone to get into the instances without problems. PVE or PVP server makes no difference anymore..

PS: I possible fix on client crashing and insane lagg would be also welcome if they could fix it. Its funny how you can run almost any game on the PC I have with 0 lagg even with better graphics and more players but on PWI in TW/entering NW the client goes crashy crashy mode on highest graphics.

Tide_Surfer - Archosaur

I'd like to see Archosaur merged into HT or Sanctuary personally. The server is too small, everyone knows everyone, time for a bit of change.

Xx_BeLLa_xX - Harshlands

Log HT then log HL and you will see that HL is pretty much dead, tehre almost no shop in west whiile HT is full of shops I can see the shop from silver pool on HT.

At that point they should merge some servers.

ovenusarmanio

condo2009 wrote: »

in 1 paragraph you state the game is not dying. in the next paragraph you state there isn't that many new players. game is dying... read the financial pages to verify. the game has lost 2/3 of it's player base in the past 2 years... down to only 600k from 1.8 mil. also rumours about a buyout this past week.

I would like to see this source that gives exact numbers of players for each game as well as saying that the company is being bought out. Because last I checked one of their titles was just nominated for best pc game of the year by game informer magazine, they had bought out cryptic studios, and PWE is just a subsidiary company. Even if PWI were to be shutdown tomorrow I'd be pretty surprised if the company was forced to sell off the rest it's assets to another company. But I'm not financial expert or anything, so I would like to see your source for this. Not being snarky, genuinely interested in where you got those server numbers from. And for the record, yes I have googled it.

@topic

IDK if I would want a server merge personally. I'm certainly more open to it than a year ago though. I'd like to see how the eu servers play out first though. Although I think the real solution isn't even more end-game content, but rather to be more aggressive about advertising and putting in more worthwhile content for new players that will make them want to stick with the game until end-game.

SylenThunder - Twilight Temple

Dylena - Raging Tide wrote: »

PS: I possible fix on client crashing and insane lagg would be also welcome if they could fix it. Its funny how you can run almost any game on the PC I have with 0 lagg even with better graphics and more players but on PWI in TW/entering NW the client goes crashy crashy mode on highest graphics.

While the client crashing because of the memory cap is certainly annoying, there is a fix for it. One is posted on this forum and is allowable because it does not make any changes to the client.
The other is not posted any longer because it does make changes to the client to remove the memory cap.

Personally, it sounds like what you're calling lag, is actually low FPS. you'll get a decrease in TW/ because of the sheer number of people in that one instance. The NW crashes have been identified and there is supposedly a hardware change that will happen near the upcoming expansion to fix it.
Also, comparing this game with it's aging engine to anything made in the past 5 years is like comparing a Pinto to a Camaro or a Vette.

whyarcher88

oVenusArmanio wrote: »

I would like to see this source that gives exact numbers of players for each game as well as saying that the company is being bought out. Because last I checked one of their titles was just nominated for best pc game of the year by game informer magazine, they had bought out cryptic studios, and PWE is just a subsidiary company. Even if PWI were to be shutdown tomorrow I'd be pretty surprised if the company was forced to sell off the rest it's assets to another company. But I'm not financial expert or anything, so I would like to see your source for this. Not being snarky, genuinely interested in where you got those server numbers from. And for the record, yes I have googled it.

@topic

IDK if I would want a server merge personally. I'm certainly more open to it than a year ago though. I'd like to see how the eu servers play out first though. Although I think the real solution isn't even more end-game content, but rather to be more aggressive about advertising and putting in more worthwhile content for new players that will make them want to stick with the game until end-game.

http://beta.fool.com/mhenage/2013/02/26/what-will-they-do/25262/?ticker=PWRD&source=eogyholnk0000001

Some rumors have it that Blizzard, owner of WoW and Diblo3 might buy-out PWI, but I think that's quite unlikely, since PWI is hugely profitable and has US$423 million in cash and investments, so PWI is not seeking a suitor. But Blizzard might launched a hostile takeover of PWI since its such an attractive option.

http://www.trefis.com/stock/pwrd/articles/168689/why-perfect-world-is-struggling-despite-its-stock-being-incredibly-cheap/2013-02-19

"The aggregate average concurrent users (ACU) for Perfect World games operated in China declined to 601,000 in Q3 2012 from 828,000 in Q3 2011. Anti-cheating measures undertaken by the company was one of the key factors that led to the drastic decline in user base."

If I remembered correctly at it's peak PWI had 1.8m average concurrent users in China. It still has 1.07 million active paying customers. Outside of China my guesstimate is it has 300000 average concurrent users, of which probably 50000 are using North American servers. Remember total active users are probably 10 times as many.