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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  Warhammer Online (Moderator: tazelbain)  |  Topic: Server merges announced 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: Server merges announced  (Read 57851 times)
Soulflame
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Posts: 6486


on: March 04, 2009, 03:26:32 PM

http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=673

About time.  Seems to be a reasonable way to manage it.
Bismallah
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Posts: 322


Reply #1 on: March 05, 2009, 03:19:51 AM

Yep, seems reasonable enough. Any guess on current subs these days?
Hawkbit
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Posts: 5531

Like a Klansman in the ghetto.


Reply #2 on: March 05, 2009, 08:31:51 AM

More than EQ, less than WoW.   Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?
Azazel
Contributor
Posts: 7735


Reply #3 on: March 06, 2009, 12:26:00 AM

I eagerly await to see how they manage to fuck up the server mergers.

 why so serious?

http://azazelx.wordpress.com/ - My Miniatures and Hobby Blog.
Lantyssa
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Posts: 20848


Reply #4 on: March 06, 2009, 08:28:30 AM

It'll be pretty easy when all the characters of one faction cannot be transfered to the target server due to existing characters of the opposite faction.  Right now it's just three, but it's going to get harder and harder as they merge more.

What happens at that point?  Do they allow characters of differing factions on one server?  Randomly assign a server?  Delete characters?

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Delmania
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Posts: 676


Reply #5 on: March 06, 2009, 08:53:47 AM

They allow both characters to exist, but the character select screen no longer exists.  There's a big play button and the server randomly picks out what character you play.  With a  day lockout timer.

Bismallah
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Posts: 322


Reply #6 on: March 06, 2009, 09:07:35 AM

What happens at that point?  Do they allow characters of differing factions on one server?  Randomly assign a server?  Delete characters?

I believe that they are going to do what they did with DAOC, a lockout timer for logging in one faction to another. The only time it sucked was when you accidentally logged into the wrong faction, heh. I think they eventually did away with that timer though because of the very small population.
Lantyssa
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Posts: 20848


Reply #7 on: March 06, 2009, 12:59:32 PM

Really stupid thing to do if you want to increase retention.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Hindenburg
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Posts: 1854

Itto


Reply #8 on: March 06, 2009, 01:19:46 PM

Beats leaving the characters trapped in a dead server. They'll get a free transfer to fix this problem, so I don't see the issue.

"Who uses Outlook anyway?  People who get what they deserve, that's who." - Ard.
Delmania
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Posts: 676


Reply #9 on: March 06, 2009, 02:01:47 PM

Really stupid thing to do if you want to increase retention.

Not necessarily, by merging and closing servers, you consolidate population and increase RvR on the target server.  In theory.

Redgiant
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Reply #10 on: March 06, 2009, 02:14:39 PM

Really stupid thing to do if you want to increase retention.

Not necessarily, by merging and closing servers, you consolidate population and increase RvR on the target server.  In theory.

Methinks Lantyssa meant the mere use of a lockout timer.

At this point, anything they do to inconvenience getting in a game you want to be in is not a good thing for Mythic to do.

A FUCKING COMPANY IS AT STEAK
raydeen
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Reply #11 on: March 06, 2009, 08:08:30 PM

How long until it's just one server? What's the count now?

I was drinking when I wrote this, so sue me if it goes astray.
Lantyssa
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Posts: 20848


Reply #12 on: March 06, 2009, 09:08:43 PM

Methinks Lantyssa meant the mere use of a lockout timer.

At this point, anything they do to inconvenience getting in a game you want to be in is not a good thing for Mythic to do.
Yep.  Merges good if it increases population.

Lockout bad, if it means person can't play and gets frustrated with it.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
schild
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Reply #13 on: March 06, 2009, 10:06:35 PM

Does it really matter at this point? Merging servers doesn't even remotely touch on the heart of the problem with the game. It's not even a band-aid.
Hindenburg
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Itto


Reply #14 on: March 07, 2009, 03:22:26 AM

Lockout bad, if it means person can't play and gets frustrated with it.
The person can play and completely avoid the lockout, which doesn't exist, provided they use the free transfer their mismatched character gets after the merger, and move it to some place else. This is the "free transfer to fix the problem" i was reffering to.

Quote
What could make the transfer fail?

If you have characters on Magnus that are of the opposite realm as your characters on Tor Achere, Tower of Doom, or Ungrim, you will not be able to transfer your characters. Also, if a character's name is not allowed, or you have no open characters slots on Magnus, the transfer will not be able to complete.

What should I do if the transfer does not complete?

In the event that a transfer cannot be completed, you will need to perform the transfer manually by logging into Account Management.

What if I don't want to be on Magnus?
Starting on March 11th, all characters still present on Tor Achere, Tower of Doom, and Ungrim, along with all the characters that we have transferred over to Magnus will be permitted a one-time free transfer to any other server of the same type, regardless of level.

"Who uses Outlook anyway?  People who get what they deserve, that's who." - Ard.
Lantyssa
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Reply #15 on: March 07, 2009, 07:48:27 AM

Yes, that works right now.  Do you think this is going to be the last merge?  Also it can only go from the same server type to the same server type.  There aren't a lot of RP servers left for instance.  And what about people who wait for a year to see if the game is worth playing again?

I'm not talking about those who are in, playing, and paying attention.  I'm talking about people who have played, and may return at some nebulous point in the future.  Deleting their characters is a bad idea if you don't want them to walk away immediately upon returning.  So what happens after successive merges and these fail conditions kick in?

And I fully agree Schild, however should they get their act together, retaining customers will be important.  Since this is happening now, I'm curious how their transfer algorithm plays out.  (Also, I consider its implementation a symptom of why they've had so many design problems.)

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Hindenburg
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Itto


Reply #16 on: March 07, 2009, 11:02:40 AM

I'm talking about people who have played, and may return at some nebulous point in the future.  Deleting their characters is a bad idea if you don't want them to walk away immediately upon returning.  So what happens after successive merges and these fail conditions kick in?

If they want to, they'll transfer their characters,  which will be on a different server and with a free transfer waiting to be used, to the server they choose to play, through account management. No one said anything about deleting characters.
When they log, the servers that they have characters will be displayed first, so they'll be able to track down their characters.
Better this than the alternative.

"Who uses Outlook anyway?  People who get what they deserve, that's who." - Ard.
Trippy
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Posts: 23611


Reply #17 on: March 07, 2009, 05:18:31 PM

I'm talking about people who have played, and may return at some nebulous point in the future.  Deleting their characters is a bad idea if you don't want them to walk away immediately upon returning.  So what happens after successive merges and these fail conditions kick in?
If they want to, they'll transfer their characters,  which will be on a different server and with a free transfer waiting to be used, to the server they choose to play, through account management. No one said anything about deleting characters.
When they log, the servers that they have characters will be displayed first, so they'll be able to track down their characters.
Better this than the alternative.
You are assuming things not stated in the Transfer article. You might think that's the way they should do it but given that this is Mythic that's assuming a lot.
Lantyssa
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Reply #18 on: March 07, 2009, 08:45:24 PM

Exactly.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Azazel
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Posts: 7735


Reply #19 on: March 07, 2009, 11:51:25 PM

Thanks for that. I was getting worried that they might not be able to fuck this up.

http://azazelx.wordpress.com/ - My Miniatures and Hobby Blog.
waylander
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Posts: 526


Reply #20 on: March 09, 2009, 07:06:24 AM

Now that city invasions can derank a city if the invasion is pushed to stage II, its going to cause more population issues.  There is no reliable path to greater ward gear other than the PVE city dungeons, and if a city is dranked to 2 stars then access to those dungeons is cut off.  The only other way to get greater ward gear is to win a gold bag on a fortress assault (good luck with that), or extreme random drops off fortress guards during a fortress assault. So if your realm is on defense all the time and your city is deranked to 2 stars, then your access to greater ward gear is essentially cut off.

I hate wards, but being able to successfully assault or defend a city starts with greater wards.  With patch 1.2 and new epic mob bosses in those city invasion PQ's, ward gear is more important than ever. With wards the mobs can hit for 10k in one attack, without wards they can hit you for 25k damage. 

If they don't revise the ward system or make them easier to get, then its going to be hard for the side that plays defense all the time to ever go on the offense.

Lords of the Dead
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zubey
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Reply #21 on: March 09, 2009, 08:47:21 AM

Does it really matter at this point? Merging servers doesn't even remotely touch on the heart of the problem with the game. It's not even a band-aid.

Actually it helps a lot with one of the key problems:  RvR (both scenario and open) are dependent on having enough people online at the same time.

Last mass merge had a noticable affect on my server -- "peak" time (i.e. when scenarios pop and there're enough people for keep fights) extended out an hour or two in each direction.
schild
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Reply #22 on: March 09, 2009, 08:50:04 AM

I understand what server merges help. But it doesn't even remotely (as in: not even a little) help us - as players - think that Mythic has any idea whatsoever about what they're doing. This isn't an economy to dick around in, and frankly, that's all they're doing. Whatever though, if it all goes to hell, it'll just be another company that falls apart due to hubris and shortsightedness.
waffel
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Reply #23 on: March 09, 2009, 11:52:35 AM

Watching Warhammer from the sidelines as it flops around in the molten steel like t-1000 is actually a lot of fun.
Redgiant
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Reply #24 on: March 09, 2009, 07:03:11 PM

Watching Warhammer from the sidelines as it flops around in the molten steel like t-1000 is actually a lot of fun.

Well, they couldn't say "Get ... Out" any clearer.

A FUCKING COMPANY IS AT STEAK
WindupAtheist
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Badicalthon


Reply #25 on: March 10, 2009, 12:46:34 PM

What do you do when they merge everything down into that one final server, and you have both Alliance and Horde (or what the fuck ever) guys on the closing servers? WHAT THEN?

"You're just a dick who quotes himself in his sig."  --  Schild
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome."  --  Me
Lantyssa
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Reply #26 on: March 10, 2009, 01:38:52 PM

See my delimma in the other thread.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Arthur_Parker
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Internet Detective


Reply #27 on: March 12, 2009, 03:16:09 AM

link

Quote from: MarkJacobsEA
Folks,

Over the last few months we've been telling people to transfer off the lower population servers. Over this same amount of time people have been asking/telling/begging us to merge servers. So, now that almost all the people transferred off those servers, we've done just that. And of course, when we do that, some people here say "OMG Fail!"

As I've already said, if WAR was a PvE game, we wouldn't have closed those servers but since WAR is RvR-centric, leaving those servers open with their current population would not be a good idea. While these servers have been low population for quite a while once we told people to transfer off of them their population dropped too low for an RvR-centric game.

Oh, and as an FYI, once again our number of paying subs in NA went up again yesterday as did our PCU (even with backing out the trial accounts). These are undeniable facts, not spin.

Mark

I thought WAR had roughly 6,145,934 separate quests, with RVR rewards that encourage players to avoid the opposing faction and focus on PVE NPC keeps.  Guess I was wrong, the crazy bus ride continues.
Bismallah
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Posts: 322


Reply #28 on: March 12, 2009, 03:35:27 AM

Whats amazing is that he is still trying to get people on the bus at the VN boards. He has his own forums, why the fuck does he need to convince VN folks (who rip him a new one, some good responses after his post) when he can have folks kiss his ass and grind faction on their own forums?

Most MMOs have a shelf life of about 4-5 years, this one will be 1 (if they're lucky). 6-7 more months to watch the servers dwindle down to life support, at best, and let's see how he spins that crap.
Oban
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Reply #29 on: March 12, 2009, 06:49:51 AM

What is a PCU?

Paying character unit?


Palin 2012 : Let's go out with a bang!
IainC
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Reply #30 on: March 12, 2009, 06:59:29 AM

What is a PCU?

Paying character unit?



Peak Concurrent Users

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Oban
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Reply #31 on: March 12, 2009, 07:18:49 AM

Peak Concurrent Users

Ah ha, thank you. 

WoW has been around for so long that I forgot that was a marketable statistic.

Palin 2012 : Let's go out with a bang!
Arthur_Parker
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Internet Detective


Reply #32 on: March 12, 2009, 07:30:45 AM

link

Quote from: Edge Online
Tippl recounted how at the time of the Activision Blizzard merger, some industry watchers speculated that World of Warcraft was peaking at 9 million subscribers, and "about to fall off the cliff."

"...I still remember a lot of those conversations," he said.

Today, about a year after the initial Activision Blizzard merger announcement, the MMO has 11.5 million subscribers worldwide.

"If you add up all the other MMOs that launched that spent $100 million to give [the market] a try, some of them ended up with 300K paying subscribers," said Tippl. He was likely taking a shot at Mythic and EA's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, a game that just happens to have that many subscribers currently.

There is room for more WoW subscribers, though, Tippl claims. "While the numbers look large, we still think that we have opportunities to grow," he said, pointing to MMO growth opportunities in Asia. "Growing the Blizzard business is not one of the things that keeps me up at night."

So that's where the salt goes.
Lantyssa
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Reply #33 on: March 12, 2009, 07:52:51 AM

In the eye?  That's gotta sting.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Delmania
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Posts: 676


Reply #34 on: March 12, 2009, 08:21:47 AM

I wonder if MJ will bite this time?

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