Once again:Population bonuses?

[Otho]

ActiveChars is the only indication we have of number of players on a realm. It's not very good though, as it's just the number of characters logged on in the last week or so. So, if I log on all 16 characters on my two accounts in an hour, it increases the number greatly. If I stick to main+buffbot it's only 2 active characters.

However, it is a slightly indication - nothing more.

Regarding this way of measuring the population. On all characters the /played is kept track of. Why not use it to see how many actual hours a realm is populated by actual accounts. I am not saying it should be the only way of deciding how active a realm are but it could a part of the way to calculate population bonuses.

/Otho

 

[Shanaia]

How you can begin to compare prydwen and avalon is beyond me.

:worthy:

Apparantly the english servers are compared among each other and that comparison is a part of the calculation... and the same happens among german servers and french servers ... but not between french and german and english servers ... hence you can not compare the pop bonusses a german server gets with the pop bonusses an english gets.

 

[Kicks]

Excalibur and Prydwen are both english servers.
Excalibur have a far greater population than Prydwen.
Excalibur have bigger population bonuses.

What was your point again?

Didn't notice you'd posted any stats to do with Excal,

oh wait.

 

[IainC]

We balance the servers individually taking 7 days as the baseline. The further from parity a realm is, the greater the bonuses it will get. We don't compare servers to other servers when making those calculations.

To clear something up that was mentioned earlier, LWRP are not considered when calculating the bonuses. A realm will get a bonus for being underpopulated, not for avoiding RvR. If you have the people but are unwilling to RvR you aren't going to get a bonus. Likewise we aren't going to penalise a low population realm for being more active.

 

[Azathrim]

Didn't notice you'd posted any stats to do with Excal,

I presume you are an intelligent person, so I figure you are able to find that yourself. But, in case I presumed wrong:

Prydwen:
Albion
FreeLevel:7
CampBonus: 82%
LastWeekRP: 11 415 496
ActiveChars: 1 516

Midgard
FreeLevel:7
CampBonus: 88%
LastWeekRP: 10 502 661
ActiveChars: 1 321

Hibernia
FreeLevel: 2
CampBonus: 110%
LastWeekRP: 10 753 288
ActiveChars: 976

Excalibur
Albion
FreeLevel: 7
CampBonus: 76%
LastWeekRP: 21 026 440
ActiveChars: 2 458
Midgard
FreeLevel: 6
CampBonus: 98%
LastWeekRP: 17 386 301
ActiveChars: 1 977
Hibernia
FreeLevel: 2
CampBonus: 106%
LastWeekRP: 15 393 610
ActiveChars: 1 633

 

[Azathrim]

We balance the servers individually taking 7 days as the baseline. The further from parity a realm is, the greater the bonuses it will get. We don't compare servers to other servers when making those calculations.

To clear something up that was mentioned earlier, LWRP are not considered when calculating the bonuses. A realm will get a bonus for being underpopulated, not for avoiding RvR. If you have the people but are unwilling to RvR you aren't going to get a bonus. Likewise we aren't going to penalise a low population realm for being more active.

So, that is the strategy. Requiel, GoA provides two english RvR servers. One of them is drasticly low on population.

I belive a majority of the Prydwen community is very concerned about this.
You got any way to calm the community?

Furthermore, you mention that you base this purely on population and thus don't include a factor like RvR activity.
Now, let us look at Pry/Hib. A few facts:
1) They are underpopulated
2) They are #1 lwrp (#2 if removing the RP bonus).
3) They own and defend 4 relics.
4) They have 50% discount on upkeep.

Now, that upkeep discount would fit if the realm had a problem generating RP's and thus Bounty points. However, Hib/Pry simply don't have that problem. Infact, they generate more than the other realms on the server.

Would it, in this case not be fair to readjust that upkeep bonus to a more fitting level. Perhaps start using this particular variable (upkeep bonus) the way Mythic intended, as a help for the underdog realm?

 

[Otho]

A realm will get a bonus for being underpopulated, not for avoiding RvR.

The problem is that measuring of "population". Active accounts or total hours ingame might be a good measurment, active characters is not.

 

[IainC]

So, that is the strategy. Requiel, GoA provides two english RvR servers. One of them is drasticly low on population.

I belive a majority of the Prydwen community is very concerned about this.
You got any way to calm the community?

Furthermore, you mention that you base this purely on population and thus don't include a factor like RvR activity.
Now, let us look at Pry/Hib. A few facts:
1) They are underpopulated
2) They are #1 lwrp (#2 if removing the RP bonus).
3) They own and defend 4 relics.
4) They have 50% discount on upkeep.

Now, that upkeep discount would fit if the realm had a problem generating RP's and thus Bounty points. However, Hib/Pry simply don't have that problem. Infact, they generate more than the other realms on the server.

Would it, in this case not be fair to readjust that upkeep bonus to a more fitting level. Perhaps start using this particular variable (upkeep bonus) the way Mythic intended, as a help for the underdog realm?

No because Hib/Pryd is underpopulated. They are doing well in RvR currently in spite of a lower proportional population than almost any other realm on any other server. We will not penalise them for doing well. On Prydwen both Mid and Alb are almost exactly equal as far as RvR capable population goes (we don't count low level alts for the purposes of our calculations, only characters who are able to play a realistic role in top level RvR). It's not appropriate to give either of them a bonus. We aren't going to base the bonuses on RvR activity as it can be manipulated too easily - a big alliance could decide not to RvR for a week, level some alts to drop the LWRP, just to get a nice fat bonus for the next few weeks. We don't want to see a bonus for realms who are outnumbered on the server turn into a 'pass the parcel' game.

Midgard on Excalibur gets a bigger bonus than Midgard on Pryd because Mid/Excal is smaller compared to Alb/Excal than Mid/Pryd is when compared to Alb/Pryd.

 

[Krakatau]

On Prydwen both Mid and Alb are almost exactly equal as far as RvR capable population goes (we don't count low level alts for the purposes of our calculations, only characters who are able to play a realistic role in top level RvR).

Sorry for having 15 lvl 50's, all of which are unable to play a realistic role in top level RvR...

Guess this means that me, who mainly do PvE, mess up the RvR capable population statistics for the rest of Midgard then ?

And with current online numbers of chars, I'm soon gonna hold 1% of total logged on lvl 50 middies in a while... Go figure...
http://daoc.darkzone.net/server/eu/prydwen/

 

[Shanaia]

Sorry for having 15 lvl 50's, all of which are unable to play a realistic role in top level RvR...

Guess this means that me, who mainly do PvE, mess up the RvR capable population statistics for the rest of Midgard then ?

yes your 15 chars are really tipping the scale in this matter ... because other realms don't have any players that mainly pve .. noooo

 

[Kicks]

Hibs on Pryd should be congratulated tbh for doing so well. To the mids that are QQing - Organise your RvR better tbh, you have larger population, more toons at your disposal, some sick classes. If you pulled together the way the hibs evidently have you wouldn't be moaning .

The balancing is about prioritising the most dis-advantaged first i.e. Hib/Pryd then Hib/Excal then Mid/Excal then Mid/Pryd. To paraphrase Req Mid/Excal may have more ppl but are more dis-advantaged than Mid/Pryd. If it changes then you may benefit, but the worst affected is dealt with first.

There is not alot that can be done to increase population on Pryd since both Excal and Pryd populations are falling, not increasing. Maybe Catacombs will change that.

 

[Azathrim]

No because Hib/Pryd is underpopulated. They are doing well in RvR currently in spite of a lower proportional population than almost any other realm on any other server. We will not penalise them for doing well. On Prydwen both Mid and Alb are almost exactly equal as far as RvR capable population goes (we don't count low level alts for the purposes of our calculations, only characters who are able to play a realistic role in top level RvR). It's not appropriate to give either of them a bonus. We aren't going to base the bonuses on RvR activity as it can be manipulated too easily - a big alliance could decide not to RvR for a week, level some alts to drop the LWRP, just to get a nice fat bonus for the next few weeks. We don't want to see a bonus for realms who are outnumbered on the server turn into a 'pass the parcel' game.

Who talked about penalizing an underpopulated realm for doing well?

I talked about not giving cheaper upkeep on level 10 keeps, faster upgrade of towers/keeps and cheaper guards to the realm that holds 4 relics and controls the battlefield, while earning the most lw rp.
Hib/Pry is underpopulated. Hib/Pry is -not- an underdog.
Requiel, if you read how Mythic proposed and described these bonuses, it's very clear that in a situation like this Hib/Pry were to get XP bonus/Free level, but not the upkeep bonus. They are not underdogs! They already have it easier maintaining their relic keeps at level 10 than the other realms. They don't need the 50% welfare reduction as well.

Now, that was the subject of upkeep bonuses.
For the XP bonus differences between same realm, different server issue.

Your argument is, that you balance this between realms on a server. Not between realms as a general note across the servers.

Well, perhaps you should.

Do the same thing you do now, but then raise the level for the underpopulated server across the board (or lower it for the high populated server).

This way you signal to new players that their help is mostly needed on this particular server. The current setup gives the impression that new players should join Excalibur before Prydwen.

That just seems wrong.

 

[Flimgoblin]

There's already counters to having all the relics/doing well at any one instant in RvR - hib/pryd will have slower-reacting /realmwar, longer time upgrading keeps.

Population bonuses are fairly steady long term for a good reason (see requiel's comment about peope not RvRing for a week just to get bonuses).

If it really bugs you that much reroll hib/pryd you'll be 50 in no time
That or get your realm organised: you should have plenty of people to deal with the hibs given your population. Just need to get them out of ToA/DF/Modernagrav.

 

[Azathrim]

There's already counters to having all the relics/doing well at any one instant in RvR - hib/pryd will have [...] longer time upgrading keeps.

As far as I know, that is not true. It costs 50% the bounty points to hold keeps/towers and they upgrade faster. That is part of the Underdog bonuses hibs currently have (not to mistake for Underpopulation bonuses).

If it really bugs you that much reroll hib/pryd you'll be 50 in no time

Actually my main issue is the population on Prydwen in general (not hib in particular). That server is dying, while GoA sends the signal that Excalibur needs more help than Prydwen.

I rerolled a german server instead. First wave level 50. Second wave halfway. So, 50 all around with full arsenal of bots and animist next week.

Just a shame Mythic haven't figured out how to do localized interfaces.

I mean, the choise was between a server that had more RvR 3am than the other server had prime-time. Not really a tough choise, right?

 

[Eroda]

Think the problem is that all realms are currently needing some help with keeping their keeps\towers at a decent level. Hibernia does need its other under-populated bonuses to attract more players but atm theres a situation where alb\mid have half their keeps yellow\orange con where as im yet to see a hib keep that isn't red or above (in their own frontier). I dont think bonuses should be taken away, rather albion and midgard should be receiving lesser upkeep costs too.

With regards to prydwen, its looking very bad indeed. I think people are wanting reassurance that it isn't gonna just be allowed to slip into a dead server with 100-200 people prime time. How more players can be attracted i dont know. Maybe handing out high bonuses wasn't intended to attract people to a server but in prydwen's case, i think it would be justified. When u have UK players leaving an english speaking server to join a german one, its obvious that theres a problem. I'm just hoping that Catacombs will be recieved well and a new player base will be generated.

 

[old.Whoodoo]

Actually my main issue is the population on Prydwen in general (not hib in particular). That server is dying, while GoA sends the signal that Excalibur needs more help than Prydwen.

You dont seem to grasp the idea of this at all, you cannot compare servers at all, this is your major flaw, its just not possible.

Now you seem to have changed the direction of the argument from underdog bonus to "we need more players!". As Requiel has said, and others, its based on the player base to even numbers, sorry of your server is full of pure farmers and PvE'ers, nothing GOA or any bonus can do to help that, its down to you to encourage RvR in your population, not anyone else. Quick reminder that this is a game of both PvE and RvR and everyone is entitled to both.

As for GOA pointing people at Excal, thats pure twaddle, Prydwens population has been well under Excal since euro went live, always has been, always will be. No one knows why, perhaps the name "Excalibur" sounds more promising to people than "Prydwen", thats just a psycological thing, id rather be known for being associated with a famous sword and king arfer than some place in sheep (insert random lamb and waders gag) land. And new players will look at the numbers and make their own minds up, most new players dont even look at the web site before playing anyway, so your arguement there is flawed.

 

[Azathrim]

You dont seem to grasp the idea of this at all, you cannot compare servers at all, this is your major flaw, its just not possible.

My flaw? You arrogant twat!
You claim it is not possible to compare servers, yet give no argument. I give an example of how the servers are compared by players, yet you ignore it.

Now you seem to have changed the direction of the argument from underdog bonus to "we need more players!". As Requiel has said, and others, its based on the player base to even numbers, sorry of your server is full of pure farmers and PvE'ers, nothing GOA or any bonus can do to help that, its down to you to encourage RvR in your population, not anyone else. Quick reminder that this is a game of both PvE and RvR and everyone is entitled to both.

Suchs simplicity from a E&E and GM. What does the activity of my own realm have to do with this?
Before we changed to Avalon, we had nights where we could run half or full hours without meeting anything but the rare solo'ers. Not even the zergs could be pulled out by some tower bashing.
That was why we moved Avalon. That is an example of how Prydwen is dying. That is why I made this thread: To put focus on the fact that GoA sends the signal that high-pop servers have more need of new players than the low-pop server Prydwen.

Are you as ignorant as to claim that Prydwen as a whole doesn't have a population issue?

As for GOA pointing people at Excal, thats pure twaddle, Prydwens population has been well under Excal since euro went live, always has been, always will be. No one knows why, perhaps the name "Excalibur" sounds more promising to people than "Prydwen", thats just a psycological thing, id rather be known for being associated with a famous sword and king arfer than some place in sheep (insert random lamb and waders gag) land. And new players will look at the numbers and make their own minds up, most new players dont even look at the web site before playing anyway, so your arguement there is flawed.

GoA have never pushed new players towards Excalibur - until they did the fiasco of assigning these bonuses.

 

[Belomar]

Azathrim - Whoodoo, 1 - 0.

 

[Gamah]

As for GOA pointing people at Excal, thats pure twaddle, Prydwens population has been well under Excal since euro went live, always has been, always will be. No one knows why, perhaps the name "Excalibur" sounds more promising to people than "Prydwen", thats just a psycological thing, id rather be known for being associated with a famous sword and king arfer than some place in sheep (insert random lamb and waders gag) land. And new players will look at the numbers and make their own minds up, most new players dont even look at the web site before playing anyway, so your arguement there is flawed.

Which is EXACTLY the reason goa should be pushing people to roll on prydwen..

 

[Mnexxiz]

The numbers GOA is basing their decisions on are these:
(Alb/Hib/Mid - numbers from last week)
Number of Players (Level 45-50)
3 127 (40.00%) 1 936 (24.77%) 2 754 (35.23%) 7 817
Number of Players (Level 45-50 & Actif)
1 887 (38.15%) 1 165 (23.55%) 1 894 (38.29%) 4 946
Number of Players (Level 45-50 & Actif RvR) (* 5000rps+ last week)
276 (31.76%) 254 (29.23%) 339 (39.01%) 869

As you can see Mids are actually fielding the most players in RvR - even Albs are nowhere near these numbers. Would it be fair to give the realm that fields the most successful players in RvR a low population bonus?

I am watching the population numbers since end of May 2004 and while Prydwen lost around 44% of its population this is in no way different to most other servers. WoW has taken within the last 4 weeks around 23% off - nothing which shouldn't be expected.
Hibs are doing very successful in RvR on Prydwen for now - then again we don't require (and don't have) naturalists to be able to deal damage fast.

I expect a noticeable number of players coming back from WoW when the "new" game enters the stage of ultimate-combo-wins - something that should happen 6 months down the line.

Until then I will be enjoying the best of DAOC as it is.

 

[xxManiacxx]

Thats whats wrong with whole thing. You cant look at that only. I know people that have 3-4 chars that bring in 5k+ rp every week. Me myself have atleast 3 and sometimes up to 6 different characters that I use.

And by active do they include ppl that login, pay rent then logout as active also? And ppl that login, see that there is noone online that they know/nothing is happening and logout?

You have to look more on the server. I regurly do a /who all and compare to hibs/albs and its never more then perhaps 1-3% difference between the realms.

And when is a realm underpopulated? 1% difference? 5% difference? or is it 10 players difference? 50 players difference?

You know a 5% difference on a server that in prime-time have less then 1000 players are not much ppl.

Looking at active characters is the worst way to do it. Active accounts is alittle better but people have multiple accs so thats not really accurate either. You basicly have to look at the server, see how the differences is everyday then take the average number active ppl every week and then you can see the difference.

Lets say Hib have an average of 140 players on mon 120 on tues 160 on wend etc etc and then get an weekly average of maybe 150 players. Then you do the same with alb and mid and I can assure you that the figures are gonna be different.

Dont stare blind at the numbers you get from everyone that login for 5min GOA. Take a close look at the server. See that there is nearly no difference in population between the realms anymore. Even Albion have a hard time bringing numbers nowadays and are not that far ahead of Mid and Hib.

In theory it maybe is a good idea to simply look at those numbers. But in reality you must take a closer look on how the server actually looks.

 

[Tuppe]

yep, must agree maniac.
personally have allso 3-4 and can play 6 chars in rvr depending situation.
hunter is when wanna solo around, healer when doing raids and wanna group, warrior have played few time, shaman as bot sometimes following my butt and so on.

probably all realms have this type players but is it same ammount? dont think so.
mids need different classes for toa area, you need healer and tanks, for rvr you need casters, tanks and seers but whit only rvr group you have hard time run thru toa when some steps need example tank heavy group.

 

[Wholdar]

Midgard on Excalibur gets a bigger bonus than Midgard on Pryd because Mid/Excal is smaller compared to Alb/Excal than Mid/Pryd is when compared to Alb/Pryd.

Couldnt it be considered to give bonuses to both alb/pryd and mid/pryd then? Since they are both smaller compared to their counterparts on excal?

I´d REALLY like to see some increase in population of all realms on prydwen, but right now I can´t see anything that would make new english players consider prydwen before excal.

Is that how you want it to work, or is it your intention to have 2 different "profiles" of the english servers?

/j

 

[Tesla Monkor]

The only thing that really shines through all these replies is that GOA isn't doing, or planning to do, anything at all to get people to move/start to/at Prydwen.

Giving one realm a higher bonus than others isn't going make people move from one realm to another on the same server, and not having a higher bonus than a higher populated server overal isn't going to make people move from one server here either.

Netto effect of all these bonusses is that it's actually harming Prydwen more than it helps. The only people who benefit from them is the group who already are playing there, and that isn't the group you were aiming at to begin with.

The bottom line is that unless you add a 'Please start your character on Prydwen' message on the 'choose a server' that people see starting the game for the first time, nothing is going to change.

 

[Eroda]

The only thing that really shines through all these replies is that GOA isn't doing, or planning to do, anything at all to get people to move/start to/at Prydwen.

Giving one realm a higher bonus than others isn't going make people move from one realm to another on the same server, and not having a higher bonus than a higher populated server overal isn't going to make people move from one server here either.

Netto effect of all these bonusses is that it's actually harming Prydwen more than it helps. The only people who benefit from them is the group who already are playing there, and that isn't the group you were aiming at to begin with.

The bottom line is that unless you add a 'Please start your character on Prydwen' message on the 'choose a server' that people see starting the game for the first time, nothing is going to change.

This is exactly the problem, the bonuses could be used in a really good way to help boost prydwen before it falls down completely. If i was a new player now and did a little research beforehand, i would not consider prydwen at all, there is absolutely no reason that i could see to choose prydwen over excal for any realm. I think some sort of message at the login screen to explain which servers are currently underpopulated and are benefiting from bonuses would go a long way to encouraging the server to grow.

Think GOA strategy atm is kinda 'wait and see' until after catacombs is released which is fair enough but if we get to a situation in a month where pyrd prime time population is still around 600-700, the server wont survive imo. Sad to see it happen really cos the first few months of NF were some of the best ive had in the game, just a few more hundred people would have a great effect on things. People just need to know that something will be done if it does get to that situation, and that they aren't wasting their time leveling characters in the mean time

I still think a merger would be good too for both servers, i imagine u'd get alot of people who left back then to play with some really great rvr at all hours of the day.

 

[old.Whoodoo]

My flaw? You arrogant twat!
You claim it is not possible to compare servers, yet give no argument. I give an example of how the servers are compared by players, yet you ignore it.

Meeeooow, out of the knife draw tiger! (+ other random name calling)

The bonus's are designed to even out the numbers in each realm, and has no bearing on server numbers, like Telsa says, unless GOA publicise Prydwen upon game startup when a new player joins, people are not going to choose it, as the server numbers show on login that excal is already popular, human nature says "Ill go there then, no one likes prydwen it seems. Thats something out of GOAs control.

I have given plenty of arguements, as has Requiel in his statement, you just refuse to listen. I agree Prywden needs more people, but as most new players dont know about the bonus's upon joining the game, but in fact much after, the bonus system cannot be blamed for its low populus. Most new players just want to get into the game like we all did when we started, and reading www.camalot-europe.com was one of the last things we ever did.

Suchs simplicity from a E&E and GM. What does the activity of my own realm have to do with this?
Before we changed to Avalon, we had nights where we could run half or full hours without meeting anything but the rare solo'ers. Not even the zergs could be pulled out by some tower bashing.
That was why we moved Avalon. That is an example of how Prydwen is dying. That is why I made this thread: To put focus on the fact that GoA sends the signal that high-pop servers have more need of new players than the low-pop server Prydwen.

You answered this yourself, you left Prydwen to play Avalon, so you have become part of the problem...chicken and the egg perhaps? Most Prydwen players have left to go to the more populated servers, no bonus will bring them back unless you want to start talking about giving away free artis and MLs, and who in their right mind will roll on a realm that doesnt get a bonus, when you can go to the underdog one and get uber leveling and cash?

Are you as ignorant as to claim that Prydwen as a whole doesn't have a population issue?

Where did I say that? Whats your solution then smart arse, lock down other servers and force players on there perhaps, how about we give a free t-shirt or tickets to Kylie Mingoue to encorouge players there? Again, its not about the servers, its about the realms and balancing numbers, not enticing people to a specific server.

What bonus's would you give, and what happens when the other servers empty to go to grab the freebies on offer? Great, kill off excals population in favour of Prydwen...not smart.

Pryds population is problematic, but the bonus system is really not to blame, its like sheep, no grass they all move together to pastures new.

GoA have never pushed new players towards Excalibur - until they did the fiasco of assigning these bonuses.

Odd, theres nothing on the box or in the manual, nor on the main GOA pages. Again, the bonus system does not encorage ppl to head to other servers, the numbers do.

 

[old.Whoodoo]

I still think a merger would be good too for both servers, i imagine u'd get alot of people who left back then to play with some really great rvr at all hours of the day.

I dont think a merge or the two can work tbh, nice idea, but as I have (like many) toons on both servers and in different realms, its a conflict of interests, or I end up with alb and mid toons on one server. I think this is also an issue with the clustering idea....

Nice thought, but not very easy to make it happen i think.

 

[Flimgoblin]

As far as I know, that is not true. It costs 50% the bounty points to hold keeps/towers and they upgrade faster. That is part of the Underdog bonuses hibs currently have (not to mistake for Underpopulation bonuses).

http://www.camelotherald.com/more/1662.shtml

patch 1.71

- For realms that own 5 or less keeps, the flames on the realmwar map will only appear when the tower/keep door or walls have been slightly damaged. When a realm owns more than 5 keeps, the flames will trigger on the realmwar map at a lower health. The trigger delay increases for each keep (past 5) that the realm owns. If a realm owns all of the keeps, they will not see any flames on the realmwar map for any of their keeps or towers.

- The time to upgrade a keep to level 10 is now based on how many keeps the realm owns. The total time increases 6.25 hours per keep owned by that realm (for example: the base time for owning 7 keeps is 40.5 hours). The time to upgrade to level 10 if the realm owns one keep is 3 hours. The time to upgrade to level 10 if the realm owns all 21 keeps is 128 hours.

- The following defensive realm bonuses are not applied to a keep that is holding a relic: hookpoint reuse timers, hookpoint item cost, additional guard level, and maintenance cost.

i.e. if they have lots of relics/keeps they get slower upgrading, and any relic keep costs a bomb to keep at level 10.

 

[Wholdar]

Pryds population is problematic, but the bonus system is really not to blame

No, it´s not to blame, more than that people use the better bonuses on bigger servers to move there.

BUT, the bonus system COULD BE USED to draw new players to Prydwen, just make bigger bonuses to smaller servers, and make sure players know about it.

/j

 

[Azathrim]

The bonus's are designed to even out the numbers in each realm, and has no bearing on server numbers, [...]

That was the main reason for Mythic when they designed that system. Mind you, this is for American servers where players have many, many more servers to pick from than us English speaking Europeans. We have two english servers. Nothing more. I do belive that qualifies for saying, that the original intent of the design doesn't hold. It needs to be used in the local system. Something GoA blatantly fails to address by giving the low-pop server lower bonuses.

I have given plenty of arguements, as has Requiel in his statement, you just refuse to listen.

Whoodoo, there is a difference between arguments and stating oppinions. Let us look at one 'argument' you give:

This isnt about comparing servers my freind, its about the populations on servers as individuals, so quote what you like. This is about how many players there are on each server. The idea is not to over power any particular realm, but to encourage new players to balance the number of players available.

Here you say it is not about comparing servers, but instead balance out the realms on each individual server. Fine, you give some motivations for it, but you don't argue that it is the way to go. You don't address the problems this causes, the problems that was the reason for this thread. You just state oppinion.

I agree Prywden needs more people, but as most new players dont know about the bonus's upon joining the game, but in fact much after, the bonus system cannot be blamed for its low populus.

We at least agree, that Prydwen needs more people. We do disagree that the bonus system cannot be blamed though. Or, should I be more specific: GoA's implementation of the bonus system.
Nothing prevents GoA from listing the server bonuses in the Account management system they have. Nothing prevents GoA from making damn well sure new players, or players re-activating accounts know what the bonuses are and what server GoA suggest you start out on. Nothing!

You answered this yourself, you left Prydwen to play Avalon, so you have become part of the problem...chicken and the egg perhaps? Most Prydwen players have left to go to the more populated servers, no bonus will bring them back unless you want to start talking about giving away free artis and MLs, and who in their right mind will roll on a realm that doesnt get a bonus, when you can go to the underdog one and get uber leveling and cash?.

Hib/Ava was picked because it is the underdog. Not because my character gains possible 3 free levels on his way to 50. Furthermore, it's not like you get much camp bonus at fins anyways...
Yes, I am part of the problem... I have characters on Prydwen. We left because Prydwen was dying and nothing assured us that GoA was going to handle this in a competent way. They have started doing commercials in brittain, so things are changing... that is good. But, at the time it was not so.

By the way, I still haven't seen any commercials in Denmark... how come?

Whats your solution then smart arse, lock down other servers and force players on there perhaps, how about we give a free t-shirt or tickets to Kylie Mingoue to encorouge players there? Again, its not about the servers, its about the realms and balancing numbers, not enticing people to a specific server.

What bonus's would you give, and what happens when the other servers empty to go to grab the freebies on offer? Great, kill off excals population in favour of Prydwen...not smart.

This is my suggestion:

1) Throw the bonuses up on the account management system on the main page. Make people click to get by them each time they log in. Make sure all new and reactivating players know the bonuses.

2) Make the bonuses this way:

Prydwen:
Albion
FreeLevel:6
CampBonus: 112%
Midgard
FreeLevel:5
CampBonus:118%
Hibernia
FreeLevel: 2
CampBonus: 140%

Excalibur
Albion
FreeLevel: 7
CampBonus: 76%
Midgard
FreeLevel: 6
CampBonus: 98%
Hibernia
FreeLevel: 2
CampBonus: 106%


That would signal which server gives the easiest leveling for new players - and it would make sure they knew when they logged in the first time.