1. #1
    former king of saturn
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    Cool WTB Players for US Hours... Help!

    So, most of the individuals who read this forum probably know that I am in the US and a big advocate of improving the population during US hours due to the severely depressing feel of the server. Obviously, there are limiting factors that impede new blood in general that have been on the radar but to this point have remained as works in progress. I am hoping that we may be able to share some ideas that are within reach that may help grease the wheels here-- I'm runnng out of steam, spending time in-game while the population dwindles between 2-3% helping new (and returning) players get a grip on the game, never to log in again for any number of reasons.

    For new players, the learning curve is high, the pop is low (aka little, if any chance for general help or tradeskillers) and the path to cap is unclear/expensive by most accounts. I can give these players money, time, instruction, PPU help, res/cst/implant, but the end-result, almost every time, is that when they or I log out, that is last time I will see them.
    I'm not tired of helping players, I don't know if I ever will be. I am tired of being hopeful for a convert.


    For old players, the learning curve varies depending on when they quit, they complain about the state of APU or the muddled leveling areas and the fact that there are still missions to kill sewer flies and bees that send them into the shitabyss that we call the sewers, the population is too low (really, just access to tradeskillers) and that leveling is too damn expensive & slow when compared to the days of yore when they both knew where to find what they were looking for, and mob damage was lower. The end-result, almost every time is a pumped up returning player who keeps momentum for a few sessions, then realizes that the population is so low that they can't group or trade for items.

    I like helping people return, I've been pushing a handful of old friends to come back since I dropped back in this past August. I'm tired of pushing them to return knowing damn well that they are returning to a dysfunctional game that doesn't support them. They know what they need, they know who to look for... but nothing/no one is there. People don't trade rares at this time, there are AFK'd runners in medi who have implant tools out but haven't moved in hours. They ask for something in Help but no one responds. You can literally AFK in medi for an hour or more and see no chat movement in any channel. Talk about lonely.



    I'm writing this in hopes that you who read this forum can share ideas or pitch in yourself to help revive the play hours for those of us who aren't sitting in a timezone where primetime play is an option.

    My first two suggestions here are bad suggestsions but, then again, I'm bad and stupid so there you go--


    1) From 0200-1000 native server time, have double xp enabled. I seem to recall reading that enabling double xp requires a restart; that may make this less simplistic.
    This will help old and new players progress more quickly out of the sewers; as well as helping solidify the leveling hook that many players feed on in the world of MMOs. More dings = more excitement = more hook.

    2) Move the daily maintenance window back 3 hours. The automatic maintenance is generally the nail in the coffin for any grouping, tradeskilling/etc, or coaching of new/returning players. If that were delayed, more progress could be made and people could choose to log when they wish instead of being forced offline while trying to get 'one last thing' accomlished before they would have purposely logged.



    Looking forward to comments/flames here

  2. #2
    former king of saturn
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    damn this is a serious tldr

  3. #3
    freedom for neocron! Torg's Avatar
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    what time of the day would that be, in greenwich mean time? its true that GMT evenings are more "crowded", but...

  4. #4
    former king of saturn
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    The majority of the US and Canada are GMT-5 thru GMT-8. I'm GMT-7. The server is GMT+1, I believe.

    My play hours range between 8pm-3am GMT-7, or 3am-10am GMT.

  5. #5

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    Well.. sorry to say but thats kinda... the worst timeframe to pick i guess. Like... really early in the morning till noon... Not even the kiddies will be back from school^^

    And i doubt that there are many bored house wifes around here either
    If you want to fix the game, start with the most essential part: The Community...
    Quote Originally Posted by Danae
    <&Danae> i don't like anything that's furry, totally dependant on me, and shits and pisses in sneaky places
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  6. #6
    former king of saturn
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    Quote Originally Posted by Drachenpaladin View Post
    Well.. sorry to say but thats kinda... the worst timeframe to pick i guess. Like... really early in the morning till noon... Not even the kiddies will be back from school^^

    And i doubt that there are many bored house wifes around here either


    I have a full-time job, and a wife. I don't pick my hours hahahaha.

  7. #7

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    Hm, wich brings to my mind... can we market NC more like a Facebook browsergame? Like with that Unity nonsense and so on? You know, bored house wifes would be THE resource! Trading, resource management and crafting could be THEIR thing and they have a hand with nasty brats, so they could even act as some de-escalational elements in the community
    If you want to fix the game, start with the most essential part: The Community...
    Quote Originally Posted by Danae
    <&Danae> i don't like anything that's furry, totally dependant on me, and shits and pisses in sneaky places
    <&Danae> i have kids, i don't need pets ^^

  8. #8

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Divide View Post
    So, most of the individuals who read this forum probably know that I am in the US and a big advocate of improving the population during US hours due to the severely depressing feel of the server. Obviously, there are limiting factors that impede new blood in general that have been on the radar but to this point have remained as works in progress. I am hoping that we may be able to share some ideas that are within reach that may help grease the wheels here-- I'm runnng out of steam, spending time in-game while the population dwindles between 2-3% helping new (and returning) players get a grip on the game, never to log in again for any number of reasons.

    For new players, the learning curve is high, the pop is low (aka little, if any chance for general help or tradeskillers) and the path to cap is unclear/expensive by most accounts. I can give these players money, time, instruction, PPU help, res/cst/implant, but the end-result, almost every time, is that when they or I log out, that is last time I will see them.
    I'm not tired of helping players, I don't know if I ever will be. I am tired of being hopeful for a convert.


    For old players, the learning curve varies depending on when they quit, they complain about the state of APU or the muddled leveling areas and the fact that there are still missions to kill sewer flies and bees that send them into the shitabyss that we call the sewers, the population is too low (really, just access to tradeskillers) and that leveling is too damn expensive & slow when compared to the days of yore when they both knew where to find what they were looking for, and mob damage was lower. The end-result, almost every time is a pumped up returning player who keeps momentum for a few sessions, then realizes that the population is so low that they can't group or trade for items.

    I like helping people return, I've been pushing a handful of old friends to come back since I dropped back in this past August. I'm tired of pushing them to return knowing damn well that they are returning to a dysfunctional game that doesn't support them. They know what they need, they know who to look for... but nothing/no one is there. People don't trade rares at this time, there are AFK'd runners in medi who have implant tools out but haven't moved in hours. They ask for something in Help but no one responds. You can literally AFK in medi for an hour or more and see no chat movement in any channel. Talk about lonely.



    I'm writing this in hopes that you who read this forum can share ideas or pitch in yourself to help revive the play hours for those of us who aren't sitting in a timezone where primetime play is an option.

    My first two suggestions here are bad suggestsions but, then again, I'm bad and stupid so there you go--


    1) From 0200-1000 native server time, have double xp enabled. I seem to recall reading that enabling double xp requires a restart; that may make this less simplistic.
    This will help old and new players progress more quickly out of the sewers; as well as helping solidify the leveling hook that many players feed on in the world of MMOs. More dings = more excitement = more hook.

    2) Move the daily maintenance window back 3 hours. The automatic maintenance is generally the nail in the coffin for any grouping, tradeskilling/etc, or coaching of new/returning players. If that were delayed, more progress could be made and people could choose to log when they wish instead of being forced offline while trying to get 'one last thing' accomlished before they would have purposely logged.



    Looking forward to comments/flames here

    Didn't read all but I have been logging on a few times a night in the US. Like yourself divide, i have a full time job and there is no way I can log on for euro time. Just not many people on and get bored in about 2 min. If there are people on they are all doing their own thing. I know there is a community teamspeak but no one uses it. Maybe put the teamspeak info on the NC launcher and it will get people more active so they have someone to play with. I've been playing some Ultima Online and i realized a cool feature with it is you can spend time customize your players gear. rare cloth and such. Doesn't give you any advantage what so ever in pvp or pve but it gives you something to work towards either having to use nc credits to buy with or do hardcore trade skilling. Maybe make rare armor dyes that changes the color on the avatar.
    Last edited by MayhemMichael; 05-12-13 at 04:06.

  9. #9
    Huckle Beare' Doc Holliday's Avatar
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    balancing needs doing. there isnt enough to draw anyone back to play so you end up with shitty population levels with all but the hardcore or the people whos last pc was a 486 still playing it.


    sorry for the brutal honesty but the competition from other games for anyone whos not on euro peak time is too much for neocron to overcome. I am playing a myriad of games right now on and off casually and watching the forum but im not seeing progress on the balancing at all. not a single word. I cant help test as im never on with other people so i sit and wait and its just not happening.

    By the dwindling populations i realise im not alone in this.
    ______________________________________________________________________________________
    Quote Originally Posted by aKe`cj View Post
    Something is wrong.
    Where are the people asking for free candy or Double-XP ?

  10. #10

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    When I got a chance to log in for that 3X for a few hours there was quite a bit of people online and playing. Well at least more than the normal i'd imagine. But now that its back to normal exp the desire to grind again is not there. Like mr doc holliday said, way too many games to play that are a bit more entertaining for the short amount of game time that I have. 3X exp= was fun. So why not just leave it at 3X, hell 5X would be awesome lol.

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by ZeuZ_LoD View Post
    So why not just leave it at 3X, hell 5X would be awesome lol.
    Because within a week or two that exp rate would become the norm and the population would soon go back to normal too. Double exp weekends only work because everyone knows they'll only be active for a few days, so they logon and play longer hours to take advantage of the faster levelling while they can.

  12. #12
    former king of saturn
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    Quote Originally Posted by MayhemMichael View Post
    I know there is a community teamspeak but no one uses it. Maybe put the teamspeak info on the NC launcher and it will get people more active so they have someone to play with.


    That's a great idea, Michael.

  13. #13
    Registered User
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    I am a US East coast player, and most of the time I log in it is for about an hour or two before the server reset, like now. I know if you are on the west coast of the US there is nobody online, why because the server resets halfway through the PST peak play hours. For those who suck at using Windows clock or Google, and finding the timezone difference, PST is 8 hours behind GMT. Like right now it is 01:00 EST.
    So here is the time in Los Angeles California - 22:00PST (or 10PM)
    and Greenwich - 0600GMT (6AM)

    Having the server reset at 2AM EST is killing the west coast, that is 11PM there, and still WELL before peak gaming hours in Europe at 7AM. Pushing it back an hour or two won't hurt anything, it will mean server restart will be at 8 or 9AM GMT, 4AM EST, and Midnight-1AM PST.

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hodo View Post
    Pushing it back an hour or two won't hurt anything, it will mean server restart will be at 8 or 9AM GMT, 4AM EST, and Midnight-1AM PST.
    Agreed.

    The new daily shutdown is now: 7:30 AM GMT/UTC. The annoucement starts 7:25 AM GMT/UTC
    Last edited by Bifrost; 05-02-14 at 13:11. Reason: Corrected server reboot times
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  15. #15
    Registered User Teal`c's Avatar
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    There isnt not much trading if people want to pay 10-15 unressed techs for a good 3 slot cursed soul. It would be stupid to sell such a rare weapon for that price. I wouldnt say it costs 300 unressed techs but definetely more than 15 , its like an insult. The next thing is that people should start to do pvp in specific areas like pepper park-military base instead of leveling one char after another. Ive seen countless people logging off because there is only the blue bataillion running around the sectors. Its depressing for pvp`ers to have a capped character and waiting countless hours for just 1 duel.

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