Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Casual Server
Kyra_Rose
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Hello guys,
I am very excited about this game from what I have seen and read so far. Long time ago I have been playing games hardcore, was in the best guilds, had the best loot in 2 of the games and tried a lot of other games.
But now I have a lot of other responsibilities in RL, so if I ever play again regularly it would be max 3-4 hours a week. Now thinking back to my hardcore times, I am not sure if this is worth it, as other players will progress so much faster.
What I have missed in all the games was a Casual Server. So instead of having all the casuals distributed to XXX servers and left alone, why not having one server for all of them?
Ofc I know the implementation would not be easy, but lets spin this thought a bit further.
Casual Server:
You get a max. playtime a week for example 15 hours. After that you wont be able to play this week anymore, so hardcore players cant come to this server at all.
If you decide at one point, 15 hours playtime is not enough, any you want to play more, you will get a free switch to a different server, but no coming back.
What do you think? That would give us casuals some hope
Sorry for grammar mistakes, I am from Germany!
Asaya
I am very excited about this game from what I have seen and read so far. Long time ago I have been playing games hardcore, was in the best guilds, had the best loot in 2 of the games and tried a lot of other games.
But now I have a lot of other responsibilities in RL, so if I ever play again regularly it would be max 3-4 hours a week. Now thinking back to my hardcore times, I am not sure if this is worth it, as other players will progress so much faster.
What I have missed in all the games was a Casual Server. So instead of having all the casuals distributed to XXX servers and left alone, why not having one server for all of them?
Ofc I know the implementation would not be easy, but lets spin this thought a bit further.
Casual Server:
You get a max. playtime a week for example 15 hours. After that you wont be able to play this week anymore, so hardcore players cant come to this server at all.
If you decide at one point, 15 hours playtime is not enough, any you want to play more, you will get a free switch to a different server, but no coming back.
What do you think? That would give us casuals some hope
Sorry for grammar mistakes, I am from Germany!
Asaya
0
Comments
Just... play when you want? xD
No one forces you to play the game, if you want to casually enjoy the game then just play the game when you want.
I will be casual too because between my career and family I barely have a couple of hours a day to game. But no, I don’t see the advantage in being hamstrung on a server. I will get out of the game what I put into it, and so will you.
That would be a good idea but I see two problems with it. There's really no telling how many people would join the casual server, especially since it's casual even if the server reaches it's max amount of people it can have signed up, there's no telling really how many people would be online at any given time meaning some of those that have more irregular schedule than others might only be able to be online when there's very few others online, diminishing their experience.
The other problem I see is that it would be very costly to do it efficiently as it really wouldn't be possible to have just one central server for everyone that plays. You would still have to split the casual population into multiple servers for there to not be such high ping for players in general.
How do you propose those issues are solved?
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
Yes ofc you can't tell how many people will use this server, this is all speculation by now. Do you really have a maximum amount of people signing up or playing at the same time? So you could allow more people to sign up as there wont play so many at the same time like on other servers.
Sorry second point I don't really understand what you mean.
Ok I see most people think oh dear a Nanny Server or whatever. Only because people play casual doesn't mean they are bad players, they can still progress but just a bit slower.
It can be really frustrating, logging in 3 days later and most people around are like 30 levels higher (just an example). Unfortunately games nowadays are only about fast leveling, getting gear fast and so on. And this can be very frustrating if you just not have the time. So just trying to find solutions...
That one casual server would need to be physically somewhere in the world. Meaning that some people would be far from it and have terrible ping. If you make multiple servers in multiple regions around the world you are splitting the casual player crowd. If you have multiple servers it is no longer a single server that Intrepid has to pay for and maintain.
Why do we need different servers. Every one of them will be a PvX server. It is up to you how much time you want to put into it. You want to play once a week, go ahead. You want to play 6 hours each day, go for it.
After 10 years, you will have a high level character. So what if it took you a long time. In EQ2, I have a character who is still not max level after 12 years. I played that one casually.
I am all kinds of player. Some months, I log in daily, other months I log in once a week. Depends on my life. YMMV.
If you dont play enough you are gonna be a casual in a normal server, thats how it is, if you play like a casual you become one, it's part of the game ecosistem. Other people is gonna have more cause they invest more time, and they are gonna be better.
No PvE servers, no casual servers, no servers for special people. Imo its very ugly when someone demands a server for their own special necessities.
From a money perspective here is why I do not think a "Casual" server will work
1) Would people actually be willing to pay the full $15/mo fee to play on a server that maxes them out at 15 hours a week. My cocern would be that while many might sign up at first saying yes I am willing to pay full price for a limited game time.... during that first month when they are most excited for the game they will quickly hit the 15 hour max and then they will be begging Intrepid to up the max hours.
2) You of course have to worry about ping like Zhag pointed out, so again the cost of this idea goes up. You have to have a "Casual" server in USA, one in Germany, One in Australia, One in China. Would intrepid be able to fill all 4 of these servers and get a proper profit ratio from them?
3) I fear there would be alot of GM tickets submitted and mad emails to Intrepid each week where a player maxed out their 15 hours that week and then near the end of the week a big event happened, like a World Boss spawns or a Guild Siege occurs or a Node Siege and now that player demands extra time to be able to defend their node/guild/freehold. How many hundreds of GM tickets would have to be answered and considered on a one by one basis due to this? If the GM says yes and grants them 2 more hours, do they grant 2 more hours to all players on server?
4) Causals may play an important role in helping to keep some level of stability to a node. My assumption is that casuals are more likely to let someone else lead their node and that hardcore players are more likely to try and rule things themselves. So with more casuals in the node, the same Mayor I believe has a better chance at staying mayor, and stability allows for nodes to reach top tier in everything. Versus if anyone left on the server are hardcore full time gamers then everyone demands to be monarch and node turnover is more frequent than Intrepid intended.
Steven has brought up a desire to make the game casual friendly, one such way is by managing things through your smart phone, like picking your crops, and you can hire NPC farmhands to do the work for you offline. You can manage your Vendor shop / Player Stall through your phone app. Hopefully casuals see AoC provides fun for them even if they do not have a full set of world boss armor drops, Steven keeps saying they are making multiple progression paths and many have little to do with your level or require you to raid dungeon bosses weekly. They are making alot of religious and class quest lines that are your own adventure to do at your pace and even as a causal you can complete the entire questline to get the ultimate reward at the end of it. https://aocwiki.net/Mobile/web_interface
There is a big difference between demanding something or making suggestions. Even with my bad english I know that. I didn't say OMG I wont play this game, I just made a suggestion which is open for discussion.
Bring your points but don't acuse me on something I did not do.
In EQ2 there were even an RPG server, so it's not that something like "special" servers were not implemented in the past.
But yes I can understand your points as well.
Many Thanks for your thoughts. That sounds reasonable and if the game itself takes care of it - even better.
I am coming from my experience in other games. Usually the more time you have the better you get in game. More gear, more bosses and so on.
As a casual u never got the chance being part of a guild who does all the high end stuff, you could only join casual guilds that are not interested in putting effort in raids or world bosses.
I guess it is just hard beeing a casual, but a hardcore gamer at heart
But beyond that, let's look at some of AoCs biggest features like Node sieges and Castle sieges. You wont miss out on these. You'll be a member of that city and when a siege is dropped on it, you are signed up to defend it, even if you're only level 1. Guild Castle sieges, even if you're not a member of l33t Boyz guild that own that castle, you can walk up to the siege declaration post and add your name as defender or attacker, so you won't miss out on castle play either. Siege weapons can be shot by even level 1's they have said.
Owning a in-node home will be expensive as those are more rare so maybe out of reach for a casual, but Freeholds are meant to be plentiful, it seems casuals will over time be able to get a freehold. And then there's instanced apartment housing in nodes that a casual can definitely get eventually.
Launching a caravan and making that dangerous trek between your freehold and a node would definitely be something even casuals get to partake in often.
Buying a boat and using it to go sea treasure hunting or deep sea fishing is also within the grasp of casuals!
RP server is semi justifiable. There are many people who will purposefully ruin other players fun trying to RP for their own enjoyment. I'm not even an RPer myself, but I can see the other side of the fence. RPs come in all sizes, some like to RP PvP, some like to RP PvE. They are probably the most immersive bunch, so I would think its fair to give them a server for that end.
As for PvE/PvP servers, those are elements that are designed to coexist with one another. So, from a design standpoint I can understand what you're saying. AoC is designed to fuse those two aspects together. When pulled apart, they lack meaning. Also, the flagging system green/purple/red deals with those who want nothing but PvP, and those who want nothing but casual experiences/PvE.
As for the OP's server concept... it falls short. Any time you plan to purposefully block the enjoyment for other players for the sake of yourself, especially in such a drastic and large way, its usually a bad idea. I understand the want for your time played to have meaning in contrast to other players, but what value can you claim when everyone is stuck at an even pace? Not to mention the intricacies of raiding and suddenly being booted for playing too much. It just seems both whimsical and illogical to attempt such a server.
I mean, to be honest, if I were going to do any sort of unique server concept...it would have to be YOLO servers. One life, make it count. PvE/PvP/Whatever you do. It would mainly just be for fun, since the sustainability of it would be dauntingly difficult.
I think a more practical goal is to learn to be fine with being casual and benefit from the fruits of the labor of hardcore players who will build cities around you. I have the feeling that this game will be similar to Eve Online, where everyone's contribution is helpful.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die.
I hear you on the time basis..! I might go weeks with 0 - 30min spare, then spend a complete whole day relaxing, playing! So very intermittent but happy to find my home within