View Full Version : Server Display
KK - please, Please, PLEASE, PLEASE change the server display.
Everytime someone logs in and sees those pathetic numbers, another nail gets a tap into the proverbial coffin.
When someone logs in, change it so they see this:
http://www.csh.rit.edu/~cmarcera/images/on-off.jpg
Instead of this:
http://www.csh.rit.edu/~cmarcera/images/pop-perc.jpg
Please, for the love of God :( You guys are sub-consciously killing yourselves with the current display!
enigma_b17
20-06-05, 19:33
i doubt it would have much of an effect anymore fn, very very few ppl actually login anymore. This might encourage the odd one or 2 to log on, but will then see no1 anywhere and log off again :/
FN, how can you be hung up on numbers??
It seems a bit ubsurd to think that changing to an "ONLINE/OFFLINE" scheme fixes shit. It doesn't magically make more targes appear at Cycrow or more ppl invade PP3. It'd dsont solve anything to change from teh percentages.
Iunless of course some ppl decide what to play and when to play besed on what the masses choose to do. In that case, then by all means, hice from us the server number plz.
:wtf:
change it to percent of a lower number.. 300-500..
and dont tell anyone
- also i like how pandore is just offline in your idea =)
I see it as this:
If a person logs in, and sees single digits on all the servers, that's pretty much when they're deciding to continue or just quit there. I know *I* have gone to log in before, saw there was <10% online, and said forget it, I'll play Halo 2 instead. If anyone else has cancelled logging because you saw low %s, please post so I don't look insane :(
If it's just marked as ONLINE, I would think more people would be inclined to log in and actually LOOK for action instead of assuming there is none because there are clearly 70 people logged on, 10-20 of which are probably Dual Logged. Instead people might log in, ask what's going on on Alliance, or GR around to the hot spots (CRP, MB, BD, etc) to see if there's any action.
I'm just trying to address some of the psychological steps people might go through when logging in that will sway them. Yes, I realize 90% of people not logging on is because of what's going on or NOT going on when they're already in, but just getting in-game is half of that battle, isn't it? *shrug*
Jesterthegreat
20-06-05, 19:47
but just getting in-game is half of that battle, isn't it? *shrug*
and the other half is the battle with syncs :p
on topic, doesnt bother me really. i rarely log on, but when i do i have decided before hand if i am leveling on merc or pking on terra.
the truth hurts... not much kk can do really.... I guess I agree with FN if it goes down to 2% again o_O :(
Server count is a bad indicator to noobs, I have been asked is it a % of 10,000 i.e. 17% 1700 people online!! WTF I wish :D ermm..no dude it's 1,000 :rolleyes:
However, whatever the number people think it represents the % is too low to show any great interest in this game :( hence noobs and veterans alike may decide not to log on or even continue their accounts.
Server count is a bad indicator to noobs, I have been asked is it a % of 10,000 i.e. 17% 1700 people online!! WTF I wish :D ermm..no dude it's 1,000 :rolleyes:
Excellent point - how many NEW players have been driven away when they see their server at 5% and have alternative games to play with hundreds, maybe thousands of other players?
If no one knew :) then you would probably log onto see if it was busy..... holy shit we all log on because no one knows and its trading a plenty and a Pk'ers paradise :D
Noobs see all these players great for learning from or roleplay hence they stay, more join.......You get the idea ;)
What kills the uptake at the moment is the empty streets in NC and the empty Maze in DOY :D
I mean what a boring game if all you see when you log on for the first time is an empty Mc5 then if you figure it out Rep to the city, only to leave your apartment to wander empty streets.
Looking for someone to explain all this shit!! The learning curve is the hardest I have ever experienced and we all take for granted our knowledge of this game, but if i remember i learnt a hell of a lot from other players.
If there are none about.......they'll learn nothing...
when i was playing eve online everyone was complaining about i wish more people played... i was saying to them what the fuck are you talking about theres 10,000 people on this server atm ...... ??!@?!!??
BloodLetting
20-06-05, 21:17
I think its fine. It is what it is. I dont belive that display causes the population numbers.
People leave people come back there is just something about this game. Promotion in the US would be cool. Im doing my part to promote it but my resources are small:P
Freaky Fryd
20-06-05, 21:50
5 stars for online/offline
Get rid of the numbers...please...
[TgR]KILLER
20-06-05, 21:58
nah i never judge by that. i always log in regarding of the numbers. but since i'm busy with college and other stuff ( + its to frigging hot to play anything since my room is 35 degree's -_- ) but just check mail n stuff when i log in for a min. so i don't mind the numbers :x
Scanner Darkly
20-06-05, 22:16
I'm not too bothered by server %, but I can see how it could put off some newcomers...
Voted yes to change.
To be honest I think this is a good idea. I do tend to just press resume these days.
Low pops doesnt really put me off, I was having a lot of fun on pluto when I played it towards the end of NC1 and each time I logged in it was 40-100 online. Although I suppose that was different, with it being a 1 char server.
I don't know =/
Would it really matter right now ?
yes I agree it was a bad idea to put numbers in the first place but so was having so many servers. One server would have been enough imo, that is if it is possible to have that many players on just 1 server. KK think of the cost reduction omg one server to look after one world one story line and amazing op wars with many people to fight. You look at terra right now people goto the MB to zone whore the same f**king place everyday because thats the only place you will find people. Its not even PvP its 5 people blasting one person at times its lame, that place should never have been made a safe zone. Fuck there should not be any safezones at all with the exception of clubs, it was all there in beta then you put parra on the gaurds and things got rather lame. Those copbots were meant to kill people not stun them, you can see where the population went o_O
/edit however I'll vote yes as in the long run it may improve things
Just use a random number.
I had hoped the poll would be :
Percentages
Online / Offline
Number of runners
Other -Plz post
Abstain
but I would say:
Number of runners
or
Online / Offline
Dr Strange
21-06-05, 00:25
Instead of this:
http://www.csh.rit.edu/~cmarcera/images/pop-perc.jpg
bahahaha...
granted thats probably from an offtime, mmo's generally shouldnt have offtimes cause the populations should sustain even the late night crowd
sad part is even in peak hours pandore is at like 0 or 1%, take bets on how long until it gets closed?
I often look at it and grown, if theres less than 10% there ahell of a lot more chance of be idling in TH for 10 mins then loading up another game/study/come here or something.
sad part is even in peak hours pandore is at like 0 or 1%, take bets on how long until it gets closed?
During french peak hours, Pandore is like 6%. Not enough though. :(
Revealing player numbers in login screens has nothing to do with the game and normally should not concern us, the players. Login screen should be left only with server names for the player to choose. Nothing else. Server name is coloured when operational, or greyed out when offline
Dr Strange
21-06-05, 06:47
During french peak hours, Pandore is like 6%. Not enough though. :(
I was referring to French peak hours
I'm aware of the time zone changes. France is 6 hours ahead of myself, so their peak time is around 2pm through 5pm my time. When I log in, the once or twice a week, I see Pandore at a max of like 3% when it's like 8 or 9 oclock in France. The only times, lately, I've seen 6% is during what I like to call the "double peak time" which is peak time, on a weekend (that isn't a holiday).
I can almost say the same for Mercury but it usually has a nice 5-8%, and now a little more since some are moving over premptively incase it's changed to the PvP Server.
Dr Strange
21-06-05, 06:52
Revealing player numbers in login screens has nothing to do with the game and normally should not concern us, the players. Login screen should be left only with server names for the player to choose. Nothing else. Server name is coloured when operational, or greyed out when offline
I disagree.
I use the numbers as an answer of "hmm do I want to login for a while and do something?"
If it's > 20% sure, if not, depending apon number I'll make my choice
I think it'd be even more misleading, I mean Neocron is advertised as "play online with thousands of players", during peak times one server comes no where near close to 1000 players let alone thousands
Can you actually see a difference ?
No matter what time I login at, I see close to the same amount of people... a few here, a few there, a lot in TH...
i think the % is just another option to see, how much lag is seen. post online-ppls instead. a little hint on the startpage for the possible maximum server population is enough.
Although this solution is not likely to help existing players, I'm sure the numbers don't exactly encourage trial players to convert.
The other major factor that I believe would help is for KK to stop announcing so many new features, and start only announcing new features when they're sure they can deliver them within a decent time frame.
I'm not asking for miracles, asking KK to give the same output as large development teams that support other major MMO's. I'm just asking that, to put it poitedly, they keep their mouth shut a bit more.
In my eyes atleast, KK's habit of announcing yet another round of amazing new features when the last round is only 10% completed (where completed means completed and in-game), fobbing off player complaints with the "it was only a plan file" or "it was just a forum post, not anything really official" excuses is their worst trait.
They keep saying "we're learning", yet they still do it - Holgar's latest post being a key example.
To learn that KK, who complain so much that they can't complete the features that the players want because they're only a small dev team, are working on "a new neocron" game while the original announced feature set of BDoY remain far from complete is just farcical.
Athon Solo
I disagree.
I use the numbers as an answer of "hmm do I want to login for a while and do something?"
If it's > 20% sure, if not, depending apon number I'll make my choice
I think it'd be even more misleading, I mean Neocron is advertised as "play online with thousands of players", during peak times one server comes no where near close to 1000 players let alone thousands This exactly why we need to forget about those stupid numbers.
If what you say is how you react and if, this is how 90% of ppl were thinking, then nobody would ever login after a server reboot lol, as it would have been to 0%, therefore "I won't login. I wait for 20%+ ..." ;)
Dr Strange
21-06-05, 13:38
This exactly why we need to forget about those stupid numbers.
If what you say is how you react and if, this is how 90% of ppl were thinking, then nobody would ever login after a server reboot lol, as it would have been to 0%, therefore "I won't login. I wait for 20%+ ..." ;)
Well, new players will still have the whole "new MMO/game" experience thing going on. I mean when I started, I'd be playing even if servers were at like 1 or 2%. Simply cause I was new and there was a TON of shit I hadn't seen/done/used. It may be a little, discouraging, but honestly if a new player is actually interested in the game and enjoys the uniqueness of NC inside a super limited genre of MMO's they won't care too much about populations. Granted, I should be following that philosphy, but it's at the point where I've personally done it all, or in the case of good pvp op fights, little of. Just waiting for new features and hopefully the PvP server.
That actually brings up a good question, if the PvP server is created, should the stick with the %? I definitely say so. Again if I want to PvP which I will be wanting to do on that server, if there's 2% online (20 people give or take..) I'm not gonna bother logging in unless I needed to level (which would be a good thing ironically, leveling on a PvP server when theres not too many around to kill you). It would be a must needed gauge. Hell look at the forum replies in various threads; "yea I just log in for an hour or so to pvp" "ill log in to see how many are on and go from there" etc I could really booting up NC at night, seeing 3% and just going on about my business. Then the next night it's at like 15% and logging in for an hour or two of PvPing. Sure it's alot more casual than I'm used too for an MMO but hey, if anything I've learned how casual RPG's are these days thanks to GW and AO.
I totally agree with the threadstarter. Displaying single-digit percentages is disheartening!
On other hand I can visualise French people thinking that their Server is down for mainenance or something and never logging:)
I'd rather say, DO NOT DISPLAY ANY STATUS. Instead, just put some nice pictures (whether is piccies of the actual planets or just nice graphics doesn't make any difference). Play safe..
enigma_b17
21-06-05, 15:41
so we have to resort to deception and cover-ups to trick people to log-on....does that seem wrong to any1 else?
No it's perfectly fine ;). And while you're at it REMOVE PARA!!!
so we have to resort to deception and cover-ups to trick people to log-on....does that seem wrong to any1 else?
And you don't consider the chronically repeated trumpeting of amazing new sets of (proposed) features, the majority of which never make it into the game as any sort of attempt at deception by KK to keep waivering players thinking things are going to get better? Not to mention the, while not exactly covering-up, but plain fobbing off of any comments about the above with the "it was only a plan file" or "it was only a forum post" excuse.
[ edited ]
Athon Solo
Jesterthegreat
21-06-05, 19:33
so we have to resort to deception and cover-ups to trick people to log-on....does that seem wrong to any1 else?
replace "so" with "once again"? :p
Stay on topic or I'll close the thread, and that would be a real shame.
N
Jesterthegreat
21-06-05, 19:37
any chance of nid adding an "abstain" option? (if the thread starter doesnt have a problem with that)
I can add it if the thread starter agrees.
N
I don't mind - but I don't quite see the point. If you abstain... don't vote o_O
you dont understand - he has to post! :lol:
enigma_b17
21-06-05, 23:42
if jest doesnt post he cant beat nid to the 12000 mark :P
Jesterthegreat
22-06-05, 00:40
keep it on topic guys.
J
Freaky Fryd
22-06-05, 04:20
so we have to resort to deception and cover-ups to trick people to log-on....does that seem wrong to any1 else?
Actually, I think it's wrong to look at the server population numbers and base that on whether you want to log in or not
:p
enigma_b17
22-06-05, 12:26
Actually, I think it's wrong to look at the server population numbers and base that on whether you want to log in or not
:p
I dont see why it would be. The server numbers give people an indication of how many people are currently playing the game, and whether or not they should waste their time and money playing a game with no-one on it. The simple fact that the server populations are so low is the reason this thread exists, i highly doubt if each of the servers had on average 600 people playing at any-one time this thread would have been created.
FN, your completly right. it's the small things that can make a big change.
Dr Strange
22-06-05, 22:40
I dont see why it would be. The server numbers give people an indication of how many people are currently playing the game, and whether or not they should waste their time and money playing a game with no-one on it. The simple fact that the server populations are so low is the reason this thread exists, i highly doubt if each of the servers had on average 600 people playing at any-one time this thread would have been created.
Exactly.
I can say for a fact, (as one of the most negative fanboys there are), that if there were 600 people on average on each server, not only would I quit my other two MMO's to solely play NC again but I'd build a new system tailored to suiting NC. That's how important the population is. At current, it's a damn ghost town. Sure there are the "peak times", that are the smart times to login for the most people online. Guess what, as an MMO a player should not need to rely on "peak times". The MMO should sustain even a semi-large crowd at all times of the night, sure nothing like 600 people but at least half that during the all night hours (yes I know people who work 1st or 2nd shift and play at night).
I mean look at WoW, or GW, or even SWG (ugh..). Sure they have much larger staff's than KK but their games have huge populations. Hell GW is a relatively simple game that's not overly abundant as NC or WoW, but it's sad when I can log into one single district within GW and easily see 300 people (at 4 am..) when NC has barely 300 between all four servers at that hour. And yes, I can even log into the "International" Districts to make the time-zone adjustments more fair. Guess what, theres still more people.
And no, theres no elves in that game.
i say we go back to the number from NC1, so i can see how many dumbasses are actually playing lol. except im gonna be reactivating my account sometime soon, so i soon will be one of those dumbasses. :wtf:
If I came into the game and saw:
4%
6%
10%
2%
I would have several first-impressions.
1. The servers are low, therefore, there should be hardly any lag.
2. I shouldn't have a problem with PKers (note: new people really don't know about the game, so they don't know what LE is), since populations are too low to have that many people.
3. But what about when I want to PvP? It's primetime already, and I hope 10% means 10000 players, not 100 players.
That's the thing that I think of most.
Last night I logged in at:
0%
0%
2%
0%
*rebegs KK to consider changing the display*
Last night I logged in at:
0%
0%
2%
0%
*rebegs KK to consider changing the display*
The way I understood it, they restarted the servers due to instability.
On a different note :
Return of the forgotten thread.
just lie, randomly generate a number like 98% 43% whatever, just to keep our spirits high
just lie, randomly generate a number like 98% 43% whatever, just to keep our spirits high
I agree :D
just lie, randomly generate a number like 98% 43% whatever, just to keep our spirits high
While it may seem good to some, KK would be flamed if they did that. :lol:
Those numbers shouldn't be shown, they have no obligation to show the amount of people playing on a given server. I can't think of any other MMOs I've played that show real numbers. Some show such like "Low", "Medium", and "Heavy" usage, but not an exact number. Some just say "Online", and that's good enough.
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