Smurch

You can turn the rep system off.

How did they know to choose Virtue or Freedom?

When I was a new player, I chose "Protector" because I liked the name. I didn't know anything else about the servers. My first impressions of the game, and my decision to subscribe, were based on my early experiences on that server back in 2006.

Very very few players ever look at the forums. Many will just log in, see no one around, and assume the game is dead and not subscribe.

They might be, but there then needs to be some way to communicate that to new players who download the game and log in without coming here to the forums to find out which servers actually have a population. That could be a possible solution, maybe instead of showing server load (which is almost always the same on all servers) give some kind of meaningful approximation of actual population for each server so new users know what they're getting when they pick any particular one.

You know, it's funny. Just a week or so ago, someone made a post in the Brute forums asking if Brutes will be obsolete when everyone can roll scrappers.

The answer to both is, of course, no.

Maybe they should be really cool like the devs from Tabula Rasa. Or Dungeon Runners. Those guys rocked.

No, he side-stepped the substance of everything I wrote by making a dismissive statement that attempts to discredit me. That isn't "calling it correctly". It's side-stepping the issue. It's a logical fallacy.

I never once said if it's good or bad to play on a small server. I am sure some people like it. My point had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with that. So calling out "oh you don't play on a small server, so thats why you don't see how cool it is" isn't making a valid point when what I wrote had nothing to do with anyone's subjective experiences of being on a smaller server.

So, yeah, reading comprehension fail. For both of you. Because you MISSED THE POINT.

AGAIN.

Geeze, people, I'm trying to help you here. I want to see CoX succeed, and I want to see everyone happy, but I gotta say, the state of the servers today, and the poor reception new players get who ask about it in the forums, concerns me greatly.

So if you wanna just say "oh you don't know how cool our small server is" (despite the fact I did play on a small server and that's WHY I don't play on one anymore) then fine, but I'd rather we find a way to help the game thrive in a way that's best for everyone. Wouldn't you?

Then help the devs find an alternative you can live with.

The majority of what I'm seeing in here is sheer denial "oh I can find a team whenever I want and I get blind invites, so nope, the server isn't losing people! It's as good as ever, gosh golly! Yeah the empty streets? Thats just because people are teleporting to missions!"

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt. The population of the game has shrunk over the past several years and it's not likely to grow significantly beyond what it is now. Sure we may get new players and attract old ones when GR comes out as the New Shiny, but some other game is also going to launch soon after and be someone's New Shiny too. Historically, the best we can hope for is that the shrinkage levels off at some point that's still financially viable for NCSoft. Higher populations have a direct correlation to subscriptions, especially first time subscriptions, so more populated servers are more attractive for the company than lower pop ones.

Maybe not. But I'd also like to suggest that maybe if it gets to the point where maintaining these servers is costing them new subscriptions as opposed to maintaining an ever shrinking existing base, then it might be a better business decision in the long run even if it alienates some long time players. Or at least might be perceived as one by the NCSoft Bean Counters who aren't the Devs, but who the Devs have to listen to.

I've seen businesses fail because a struggling business owner refused to change to appeal to new customers, because such change is risky and would maybe alienate the few customers they have left. Nevermind that the few customers they have left aren't capable of supporting the business in the long term.

It's not good for the business for players to enter into Mercy Island for the first time and never see another soul. Not in an MMO. Look at how many threads we've seen in just this year from new players asking "is this game dead? I don't see anyone in my server" only to be dogpiled by the "small server purists" and told the reason they don't see anyone else is their own fault because they're TOO STUPID to use search tools and global channels a fresh-out-of-the-zig player is unlikely to know anything about. Which is also not a good thing. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and that's two bad impressions in a row: a lack of visible population and a hyper-aggressive player base who resents anyone even suggesting for a second that there might possibly be a population problem on some servers.

I play on Virtue, so any decision the devs make isn't likely to impact me terribly much (which does kinda blow the "they'll anger existing players who will leave the game in droves!" theory out of the water: if only the lowest pop servers are merged, the casualties should be minimal).

If I were on a smaller server, however, I'd be concerned about shrinking populations and what this might mean to the bean counters at corporate. I'd be thinking really hard for some way to help the devs satisfy their corporate masters and still preserve the community I belong to.

I certainly would not just stick my head in the sand, insist things are better than ever when clearly they're not. If you care about your server community, and you're on a smaller server, then you should absolutely be concerned about the future of your server, and it'd behoove you to try to think of solutions than deny there is a problem in the first place. The day may not come tomorrow or next week, or maybe not even next year, but if it keeps up like this it will come.

Tabula Rasa's servers were busier than some of the lower pop servers here, and we all know what happened there (much to my personal dismay).

That's all I'm saying.

Way to completely miss the entire point.
Reading comprehension fail.

To be fair, we are in the middle of a global economic crisis, and that does probably have a tad more to do with sales being down than any changes that may or may not have been made to PVP.

I think they should enable base raids for those who want them. What's the harm if it's a completely consensual system? It's basically an arena you build and maintain yourself at that point.

I do. If I'm torn about a power selection, I'll peek at a guide to get some opinions about how a power works, but I don't do these planned builds at all (not even at 50). I don't even start thinking about IO sets until around 30 at all, and will probably respec a character once or twice during their career as I discover things about them and their power set.

Try doing eight clones when you're playing a Master Mind

Well, who wouldn't be?

This is the nice way to say it.

Shhhh!

Because the game has assessed your overall playing skill and it has decided that you just aren't ready for the pure awesome of a Claws/Stone Brute. Keep trying, though!

You consider that a bug. I consider that a feature!

Pummel + Bayonet is a fun combo.

It seems to me if people RP in /local, they shouldn't have a problem with others joining in. If I want to RP without others joining, I do it in /team or /supergroup or even /coalition.

I generally only RP with strangers on teams. We've got four years of backstory in our RP now that I just don't really see wanting to bring someone up to speed on any time soon. I'm pretty happy with how that story RP is going, and attempts to include strangers in our little group have never worked out very well.

So, yeah, I see why some people would want to RP without being disturbed, but I dont see why they'd do that in local chat.

Yep, incremental bidding is the cheapskate's best friend to "buying it now".