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Server population management

ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
in Ashes Of Creation General Discussion
Right now this is a far ahead future problem but eventually it will become real.
I guess the game design around the nodes makes it near impossible to create a mega server environment. That mean individual servers will have individual problems.
In the beginning a lot of (maybe all) servers will be overrun. After some time the population on the servers will decline or you will even see almost deserted servers.

The usual solution for the beginning is to lock character creation on a crowded server. That leads to friends not being able to play on the same server. One thing I would think could be a solution here is the lock the server a little bit early and let existing player invite friends.

The problems that occur when a server gets deserted are a little bit more complex. Most MMOs offer a character transfer or a server merge. A rather unique problem in AoC will be character owned property like the housing in a node that should be limited. What should happen to those hard earned things?

Comments

  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    Just from the lore hints that have been dropped, just like when you die IRL, you can't take it with you. Gods have sent you through this portal, naked and alone to forge a new destiny on this world. So since every server will have a different node setup and development, and your housing is based on your citizenship to a particular node, don't see picking up all your shizz, and portal hopping over to a friends server to be an easy task to do. While the argument can be made that you wouldn't lose experience, depending on the portal lore, gear and objects could definitely be a thing. But I imagine they will go the least harmful route and banked stuff will transfer over. Like you said, way to early to tell. Hopefully they won't make the mistake that others have made and open a slew of servers at start, only to find most unpopulated when the inevitable sub plateau is reached. Then again, the gods could become angry and destroy said worlds, causing a migration to other populated worlds by refugees.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    Oh boy, this topic again. Its such a hard topic, cause theres no real answer. You cant really merge an old server cause each server will populate/develop differently, so there would be no way to value things, what to carry over, what not? Do you get your housing? Is there housing there already etc...

    There might be an easy fix, but cant really think of it :/ One idea I just came up with:
    Instead of closing a server convert it to a "RPG-server" more oriented on the adventure, lock up nodes so they are NPC driven, and now it more of an adventure game. People that have housing already keep it, but the development is still there. (<-- best I could do of the top of my head, its something...)
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    Steven did say in a stream that they are working on a custom back-end for UR4 and they knew this from the start to accommodate a MMO player base. I'm sure they are anticipating large server pops and are working on something to counter this before a live launch .. there are also several alpha and beta phases and 100's if not 1000's of test that will be performed on their end,  before we even get to see the light of day.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    Let's hope they think well on this and use their creative minds to come up with a decent workable plan before the problems arrive.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited June 2017
    Julemanden said:

    "Instead of closing a server convert it to a "RPG-server" more oriented on the adventure, lock up nodes so they are NPC driven, and now it more of an adventure game."   Bold is Julemanden. Posting came out weird for some reason.The point of closing low population servers, especially if they are region located, (Brazil wow servers come to mind) is that it is an extra expense they have to pay to whichever company is taking care of their stuff in that country. If they have ghost town servers, they will have to come up with some reason for a mass migration by populace to new servers. So while it is a good idea off the top of your head, I don't see the CFO probably liking it too much.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    A typical MMOs life span includes mergers or "encouraged migration" between servers at some point. I feel as a player we just have to trust that this time comes many years after launch and the company is prepared. 
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    I'm pretty sure this poor subject has been tired to death, lol! OP, you're correct; due to the nature of the node system and how the "world" we inhabit will be largely player-driven, there will not be a mega server. In fact, it is the stated belief of the team that each server "world" will form with some subtle, some not-so-subtle differences between each. That's one of the things the devs are actually excited about. It's also the stated hope of the team that RP will be a thing on more than just one server, which is a part of the listed reason there won't be any official RP-sanctioned servers.

    They really want to see what we, the players, will do with the gift they give us, which will be the game. They want to see how we'll shape it, and how it'll grow under our stewardship :smiley:
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    Let's hope they don't forget to think about before it happens  ;)
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