devtrackers.gg
A problem with Ashes of Creation is that the game is very anti-server merge at its core. Let's say my server's population dies down, and the server gets merged. All the hard work my guild put into a particular node goes to waste. The local economy gets completely changed; we lose all of our progress in a game that's centered around node progression and node maintenance.
So, I was thinking a bit over how Intrepid could prevent server merges from occurring, assuming that server populations are bound to dwindle by a certain percentage on launch. Although admittedly, if the game is as amazing as I think it will be, player retention will be higher than a certain, recent MMO that is plagued with server merges.
One obvious strategy to combat dwindling server populations, is to simply have not as many servers, and force players to be in a queue while waiting to play the game. Ashes current plan is to have 15,000 players registered to a server at launch with concurrent player populations of 8,000-10,000. So that's potentially a 4,000+ queue on launch and requiring 40% of the player population to log off in order to log on, if you're in the back of the line. We're going to be in queue at launch for several hours at a time. But this seems necessary to me, to prepare for the worst of a dwindling player population after the first quarter of the game's release. We don't want new servers to accommodate long queue times, only to have half the player base leave after a month of playing. I was thinking that during these queue times, we could be in a separate server dedicated to Sanctus in order to entertain us while we wait to get into Verra. That way, we can have some dedicated gameplay to hold us over.
Some suggestions of how this could work. Sanctus would be a tutorial area where you stay as long as you please. When you're ready to head to Verra, you interact with a Divine Gateway in order to get a queue reservation. Your spot in queue is in the upper right corner of your screen, and once it hits zero you get your little cutscene of heading through the Divine Gateway, and arriving in Verra.
While in Sanctus, there could be tutorials for the crafting system in Ashes. You could find out some Ashes lore, especially over 4000 years of Sanctus lore, in this area. There could be taverns you can wait in with other players, and play tavern games with those players. Or perhaps you could put up notices on tavern boards to recruit for your guild. Creating a nice little social environment at the beginning of the game would do wonders to hold people over. Sanctus could also act as an area all players in a server region interact; with a player's server selection being done by interacting with the Divine Gateway; and starting their queue reservation. (Unless you already have a guild reservation made.) Maybe you can choose to go to an instance of Sanctus that is only your race, creating a unique environment. Maybe you can get to adventuring level 2 in Sanctus, or gather a very limited number of tier 1 mats to take with you to Verra.
And when your main character gets into Verra finally, and the very next day you also have a queue timer, you can play in Sanctus on an alt while you wait. Recruit, find Sanctus lore, play tavern games.
My point being, if Intrepid can give us some kind of gameplay on Sanctus, there will be less pressure on Intrepid to open up servers that may be doomed to fail in the future. If we get players that stick with the game for 5 hours before getting on Verra, we might be ensuring healthy server populations down the line regardless of the game's popularity after launch. And it's a hell of a lot better than just staring at a number on a screen at launch.
So, I was thinking a bit over how Intrepid could prevent server merges from occurring, assuming that server populations are bound to dwindle by a certain percentage on launch. Although admittedly, if the game is as amazing as I think it will be, player retention will be higher than a certain, recent MMO that is plagued with server merges.
One obvious strategy to combat dwindling server populations, is to simply have not as many servers, and force players to be in a queue while waiting to play the game. Ashes current plan is to have 15,000 players registered to a server at launch with concurrent player populations of 8,000-10,000. So that's potentially a 4,000+ queue on launch and requiring 40% of the player population to log off in order to log on, if you're in the back of the line. We're going to be in queue at launch for several hours at a time. But this seems necessary to me, to prepare for the worst of a dwindling player population after the first quarter of the game's release. We don't want new servers to accommodate long queue times, only to have half the player base leave after a month of playing. I was thinking that during these queue times, we could be in a separate server dedicated to Sanctus in order to entertain us while we wait to get into Verra. That way, we can have some dedicated gameplay to hold us over.
Some suggestions of how this could work. Sanctus would be a tutorial area where you stay as long as you please. When you're ready to head to Verra, you interact with a Divine Gateway in order to get a queue reservation. Your spot in queue is in the upper right corner of your screen, and once it hits zero you get your little cutscene of heading through the Divine Gateway, and arriving in Verra.
While in Sanctus, there could be tutorials for the crafting system in Ashes. You could find out some Ashes lore, especially over 4000 years of Sanctus lore, in this area. There could be taverns you can wait in with other players, and play tavern games with those players. Or perhaps you could put up notices on tavern boards to recruit for your guild. Creating a nice little social environment at the beginning of the game would do wonders to hold people over. Sanctus could also act as an area all players in a server region interact; with a player's server selection being done by interacting with the Divine Gateway; and starting their queue reservation. (Unless you already have a guild reservation made.) Maybe you can choose to go to an instance of Sanctus that is only your race, creating a unique environment. Maybe you can get to adventuring level 2 in Sanctus, or gather a very limited number of tier 1 mats to take with you to Verra.
And when your main character gets into Verra finally, and the very next day you also have a queue timer, you can play in Sanctus on an alt while you wait. Recruit, find Sanctus lore, play tavern games.
My point being, if Intrepid can give us some kind of gameplay on Sanctus, there will be less pressure on Intrepid to open up servers that may be doomed to fail in the future. If we get players that stick with the game for 5 hours before getting on Verra, we might be ensuring healthy server populations down the line regardless of the game's popularity after launch. And it's a hell of a lot better than just staring at a number on a screen at launch.