Once again GoA, what are the plans for Dyvet?

[Manisch Depressiv]

338 players on Dyvet now, 1639 on Limors.

The difference in population between the well populated clusters and the badly populated ones is getting bigger and bigger, I assume you can see it from your internal data.

More and more players are rolling elsewhere (be it Limors or US) or stopping to play.

We only have the information that you are working on some additional marketing, the question remains of how you want to convince new players to play on a low pop cluster?

It has been said, that long term plans are being evaluated, what is the update on this? What are the options being discussed?

Don't you care if we pay you and play on foreign language servers or pay Mythic?

What is your idea of fixing the cluster and when is it going to happen? We're not so far away from the summer, people will spend more time outside then and the problem will become bigger. Wouldn't it be better to act now to give a mid-long term perspective for the cluster?

I have still some faith in you, despite my fear that Dyvet is going to down further I still stick to the cluster, run arti raids, exp groups or join MLs, level new chars and RvR.

But for how long should we stick to this? I've spoken to many players who just endure Dyvet, they don't enjoy it, they wait for better times, so they can run a group again and actually face some enemies worth fighting not just the very same players over and over again...

Part of the problem is also that Albion has the biggest population, maybe addressing it with much higher bonuses for the Hibs and Mids would help out a bit? I think we need a more dynamic approach here, when was it the last time when Hibernia or Midgard wielded a BG with 100 people?

When are the good news coming?

 

[judas]

amen. my acc's run out this week. is it worth renewing or time to move on...
a chartransfer would be nice or atleast /level 45+ on another servers and a few hundred aurulites to get u started...


ps. and a option do get the quests in english even on german/french servers...

 

[old.Whoodoo]

Account transfer to US would be better IMO, the language barriers and poor new signups are hard to cope with as it is.

 

[kivik]

I've wanted to make a last movie, sometimes I log on and take a run but I haven't got around to reactive my bot account, I just don't think it will be worth it. I just log on once or twice a week for ~1h nowdays.

Give me character transfer to Limors and I'll give up WoW and play DAoC until WAR arrives, that's for sure. Dyvet, is too late to save unless you multicluster.

 

[IainC]

I can't tell you just yet what the plans are, however they are not just limited to the marketing we're doing currently. I can tell you that we're taking the issue seriously and that senior people here and at Mythic are working on solutions. I don't want to fuel the rumour mill and I don't want to pull timescales out of thin air that may or may not be realistic. All I can say for the moment is that people are working on this now and as soon as we have a resolution it will be in the news.

 

[Yurka]

Question to requiel...

You said that you didn't want to loose a english cluster, but with your options your talking over with mythic, could you make a UI which is language changable, ie you have one UI for all french/german/english/spanish etc but allow the user to change the language option.

Then surely the server could update your particular client with changes to NPCs positions/names and allow the client to download the NPC names into the UIs specified language, basically making all the interaction client side with set NPC rules which can be updated and d/led like any patch. Surely that will also free up server time processing nundane process like people buying dyes and doing quests from NPCs which barely never change.

As for the text info box of actions. All the wording never changes, so surely the UI can set what appears there. for example "You perform Double correctly", instead of the german appearing if you play on a current german server.

Its not asthough you must keep english and german or whatever nationality sperate through server choices.

There would be german alliances/english alliances for those who want to talk in their native language or whatever it maybe, but people will always get by in situations and bridge language gaps when they need to...

At the moment I for one am looking to start playing daoc again after a year or so of not play (final year at uni), all my time was put into excal, but im looking to play a new realm and start a fresh. Theres no way i would touch the english cluster, I'm tempted at the avalon server, but also looking to go to US purely because of the easier options of UI and language is all english/american.

---

I remember somewhere there was a post by goa saying how you could update some of the UI on a german server to show english instead, would anyone point me in that direction so i can see fully the extent it would translate into english?

 

[IainC]

Yurka, the problem is that due to the way that monsters and NPCs work, it isn't currently possible to make language a client side choice. If you connect to a foreign server with an English client then all the text that is generated by th client will be in English and all the information sent by the server will be in the server language - if you want to see what that looks like then just pick any of the other clusters and connect.

To change it so that the language could be chosen at login for a server would require a complete redesign of the way that NPCs interact..

 

[Yurka]

yeah, thats what i feared. oh well.

 

[Gibbo]

I ran around the Frontiers last night and hardly met anyone to fight. Snowdonia is like a ghost town. Yes I know the action is in Labyrinth but that it is, there is hardly anything else.

GOA have some serious thinking to do, the population on this cluster hasn't dropped because people have stopped playing the game. The majority of people are still playing the game, just on other servers.

Sad thing is, when people see this situation they choose not to log in and you get this ever decreasing population that will be difficult to fix because come the summer there will be no one left.

 

[Manisch Depressiv]

Thank you Requiel for the replies.

 

[Eeben]

wonder if goa will do something before there is less then 100 on the server

 

[J s p]

If they merge pryd/excal with a german or french server, and the language is in french or german, you do realise that the numbers will be lower than they are now.

 

[Eeben]

If they merge pryd/excal with a german or french server, and the language is in french or german, you do realise that the numbers will be lower than they are now.

could be cool if they did that could play my merc an scout on ava then

 

[Punishment]

If they merge pryd/excal with a german or french server, and the language is in french or german, you do realise that the numbers will be lower than they are now.

Atleast it would be something ... Better than the way things are atm uke:

 

[Everz]

If they merge pryd/excal with a german or french server, and the language is in french or german, you do realise that the numbers will be lower than they are now.

true, pretty much gave up and sticking to shards lately. :/

 

[Devilseye]

If they merge pryd/excal with a german or french server, and the language is in french or german, you do realise that the numbers will be lower than they are now.

i dont care if i cant understand a thing others are saying tbh.
i barely talk to any1 in-game anyways. i just luvvv rvr.. and rvr on Dyvet just isnt what its used to be

if i could char transfer to avalon i'd do it, aslong as i dont have to re-grind on EXP/ML's/RR's

 

[Thadius]

It will be sad to see it go but look what happened with Glastonbury...

This game sadly will end up with three major "bastions" of players, one german toa server, us classic and us toa, with all other servers having a short time span left, in GOAs case be lucky to see out a year, perhaps more on the US as recruitment is still pretty high in the terms of new players.

DAOC has had its time in Europe, it had 2-3 wonderful years as one of the top rpgs, if not the best. Then Toa was released, starting the rot with the casuals leaving. Followed by WoW, this rot continued, taking with it the people who had enough of the TOA serverstyle and even some of the RVR focused people. Classic servers that were run by GOA reinjected some life but the different play styles of the French/English doomed that server from the start. Maybe the server would have lived longer if the French had thier own server but who knows.

With regards to what Manisch said, he has hit the nail on the head with his post. After TOA, people waited for better times. After WoW, those that stayed waited and hoped. Its been what, 2 years since anything remarkably new happened with the game. And all that time, it was the same people playing the same chars aginast the same people playing the same chars, with little or no new players added into the mix, due to lack of marketing. This game could have been a whole lot better if it was advertised more a year or so into WoW, it brought millions worldwide into the MMOrpg universe and Im sure at least 10% of that had become disillusioned with WoW. But GOA didnt take advantage of this and ran no publicity, effectively shooting itself in the foot.

To be honest, id expecting this to happed to DAOC all together, just not at the rapid decline that it has been. I really thought Dyvet Cluster could hold out until WoW but something has to be wrong to drive people away that rapidly.

 

[fenrisan]

There are no easy answers to the current problem, the language issues with further clustering will undoubtedly drive a proportion of the English player base away. But given the the population is so low at the moment surely it is better for GOA to bite the bullet now and cluster what remains of the English servers with German/French than wait until the English population dies altogether.

That said, it may make more of an economic argument to let the English cluster die than embark on costlier efforts to save them.

I remember when the frontiers were desolate through lack of 50s and I'll still be here when the frontiers are empty through lack of players.

Then my Thane will rock

 

[Thadius]

There are no easy answers to the current problem, the language issues with further clustering will undoubtedly drive a proportion of the English player base away. But given the the population is so low at the moment surely it is better for GOA to bite the bullet now and cluster what remains of the English servers with German/French than wait until the English population dies altogether.

That said, it may make more of an economic argument to let the English cluster die than embark on costlier efforts to save them.

I remember when the frontiers were desolate through lack of 50s and I'll still be here when the frontiers are empty through lack of players.

Then my Thane will rock

Didnt the first level 50 mid be a hutner who camped outside APK in Emain and killed all the greencon albs?

 

[Andrilyn]

Didnt the first level 50 mid be a hutner who camped outside APK in Emain and killed all the greencon albs?

Blood :s

 

[leviathane]

sinister

 

[Cylian]

both of them, but Sinister went as far as sneaking into Albion homelands and hunt them down at their bindspot

 

[NavaloreShadowvar]

Tbh i dont understand why they didnt actually implemented since day 1 the language selection on the actual client rather than on the servers, i can understand requiel it must be a complex process to do so, but i believe that if this was done when DAoC was released on EU there would be more players still playing than what there are now playing.

Maybe you should consider revamp the whole language system, well who am i to say im just trying to give my point of view ofc, but doing so will probably bring alot of players back.

Another problem is that alot of players have put alot of effort into that server, getting to High RR, getting so many alts to 50, toa'ing them, getting them ml 10, etc... and u can understand why ppl dont want to start from scratch.

Maybe what you could do is just cluster the RvR zones with another server instead of the whole server, dont know if thats possible, but at least then there will be more action to bring people back.

 

[Phantomby]

dont want to add fuel to the fire but im sooo glad i got out and rolled bossiney a few months ago.
I saw it as i can either continue on pryd/excal cluster not having fun and finding nothing to fight for sometimes an hour at a time...
or
I could reroll, bite the bullet, kiss my old alts goodbye and start afresh on a server with life and enjoy my playtime again.

On a classic server with double xp or 150% (depending on zone) and a run or two in the lower labby for OTD's your up and running in record time to enjoy what we all like about daoc...the rvr.


<Ebony Hand>
Maoixz 50 sorc Gareth

 

[Tallen]

I can't tell you just yet what the plans are, however they are not just limited to the marketing we're doing currently. I can tell you that we're taking the issue seriously and that senior people here and at Mythic are working on solutions. I don't want to fuel the rumour mill and I don't want to pull timescales out of thin air that may or may not be realistic. All I can say for the moment is that people are working on this now and as soon as we have a resolution it will be in the news.

Very enigmatic reply and I can't help notice you totally avoid answering the question.

However, perhaps you have let something slip you didn't mean too. Mythic are working on the solution? Mythic do not run the Euro servers....how interesting

 

[Pirkel]

However, perhaps you have let something slip you didn't mean too. Mythic are working on the solution? Mythic do not run the Euro servers....how interesting

Mythic code the game ... since day one Mythic has been the one "working on solutions" if it involved any kind of code changes.

What is your point?

 

[GReaper]

GOA needs to do something before it gets far too late.

Our guild group has already moved to Avalon in the hope of more action and we're enjoying it. The exact same problem with Glastonbury has already started on Dyvet, people realise that the population sucks so they move to another server to solve the problem - only making the situation worse.

If GOA/Mythic are working on a solution which is viable and can be implemented then it would be a good idea to announce it as soon as possible, even if it can't be implemented for months. Your customers need convincing that something will be done, otherwise they'll continue to move servers.

 

[Teh FnoRd]

Very enigmatic reply and I can't help notice you totally avoid answering the question.

However, perhaps you have let something slip you didn't mean too. Mythic are working on the solution? Mythic do not run the Euro servers....how interesting

erm? He saying that he can't answer the question. Nothing enigmatic about that.
And what Pirkel said ^^

 

[Darkious]

For me merging with German/French servers wouldn't work, not that I have anything against our fellow europeans, I just don't want to take a language course just to play a game.

And merging with US Servers is prolly not an option, besides if this was an option I am afraid it will be too late.

Shame really because Daoc is still the best mmorpg around for me that is.

 

[scorge]

To be honest merging with the US servers is really the only viable option, unless GOA/Mythic can think of another solution that doesnt cost thousands of pounds (marketing) to get more players in.

At the moment, people are leaving as there are not enough people in game to make it worth while, which ends in a vicious circle of people leaving :-(