Account Drive 2013?
- Thread starter Nebi
- Start date
donfolstar3
Dalayan Master
Not that the last one helped much. 
Lets face it,population is down for quite some time now.3 years ago there were 300+ logged
in,with peaks of 500+,now its ~200,all numbers US prime time.
Still a mystery to me why there arent *thousands* of active players.
Maybe we need a rl cash item shop or auction house.
Lets face it,population is down for quite some time now.3 years ago there were 300+ logged
in,with peaks of 500+,now its ~200,all numbers US prime time.
Still a mystery to me why there arent *thousands* of active players.
Maybe we need a rl cash item shop or auction house.
Vitali
Dalayan Master
Still a mystery to me why there arent *thousands* of active players.
Maybe we need a rl cash item shop or auction house.
This would be the worst thing ever. I agree more players means more fun, but RL cash shops and such are the devil!
donfolstar3
Dalayan Master
Not that the last one helped much.
Lets face it,population is down for quite some time now.3 years ago there were 300+ logged
in,with peaks of 500+,now its ~200,all numbers US prime time.
Still a mystery to me why there arent *thousands* of active players.
Maybe we need a rl cash item shop or auction house.
Die in a fire. The closest SoD should ever come to 'cash to win' is a server wide xp bonus based on server funds.
I have not done an intensive academic peer reviewed longitudinal study into SoD server population. All I can speak from is my personal experience and guess that it applies to atleast a few other people in this very specific online-14-year-old-games community. Here are the stages of an account drive:
1. I have not played in months, but hear there will be a drive through Facebook or randomly checking the forums
2. Log about a week before the drive to get all my characters ready
3. Play through the drive enjoying easy to find groups, a little to fun xp rates, and a general sense of good will on the server.
4. Continue playing after the drive but progressively fewer groups and low base xp rate mean playing less. Snowball effect.
5. See 1
TLDR; more drives good.
sheer1
Dalayan Elder
yea fuwok, things like that certainly seem like a way to fund the server without doling out anything game changing.
also, having exp bonus be a huge part of an account drive seems counter productive. that doesn't help new players nearly as much as current or returning ones. things like newbie events or just an increased staff presence in newbie zones there to hand out knowledge would help new players along much more than zooming through levels.
maybe even like some more generic newbie quest NPCs that direct people towards the wiki, or explicitly explain alignment. that whole thread on deity spec and how people get confused and mess up their spec could be avoided if there was just more awareness on things like that early.
we seem to do an ok job attracting new players but retaining them is difficult when a giant xp bonus vanishes and they have no idea where to go or what to do next.
also, having exp bonus be a huge part of an account drive seems counter productive. that doesn't help new players nearly as much as current or returning ones. things like newbie events or just an increased staff presence in newbie zones there to hand out knowledge would help new players along much more than zooming through levels.
maybe even like some more generic newbie quest NPCs that direct people towards the wiki, or explicitly explain alignment. that whole thread on deity spec and how people get confused and mess up their spec could be avoided if there was just more awareness on things like that early.
we seem to do an ok job attracting new players but retaining them is difficult when a giant xp bonus vanishes and they have no idea where to go or what to do next.
vistachiri
Dalayan Master
Most of the time yes. I've seen them done right a few times, but this really isn't the kind of game that would work with.
Daffie
Dalayan Pious Diety
I agree 100%. Also, the more people that play the more buzz to get new players involved.
Sorry for the huge wall of text
Yeah,I see true newbie questions every day in DB guild chat,but after a short while these players
vanish.So would be interesting to know why exactly they do not stay.
I see this reasons:
1)Simply dont like the game - cant do anything about it.
2)Huge wall of xp
Well,thats a perception problem,why most players seem to enjoy the game only at highest levls is beyond me.
Hitting auto attack in NP newbie yard to slay a Decaying Skeleton is exactly the same as doing it in Cata to slay an Ancient Guardian.
3)no groups at low levels or shall I even say below 65 lately?
Thats a vicious circle,less players - less groups,resulting in even less players over all.
Possible solution (*takes a deep breath*):slow down xp gain at lower levels so more people stay longer at lower levels.
And I am really sorry to say,but this xp bonus during the account drive period is counter productive,it only helps the players already there,resulting in even widening the gap between
newbies and oldtimers.
Also there is the problem that established players just fly through the levels below 65 with
their twinked alts and babysit them with their high level chars(mostly Druids).Dont take me
wrong,I am guilty of doing it myself.
Solution(*Takes another deep breath*)rohibit boxxing,again dont take me wrong I am a
fanatic boxxer myself.I know that's the most radical solution possible but it really cant be get
much worse as it is now with *only* 200 players online in the average and something
*must* be changed.Could be temporary for now to see what happens.If it doesnt bring and
even more important *keep* fresh blood it could be reverted to the old state.
4)Traveling too time consuming.
Another radical solution,sorry.
Give every player an Athica gate neck and non-gating classes the ability to gate right from the start,might be level limited for players level 1 to 64,once you hit 65 you have to do a quest to keep it.
Yeah,I see true newbie questions every day in DB guild chat,but after a short while these players
vanish.So would be interesting to know why exactly they do not stay.
I see this reasons:
1)Simply dont like the game - cant do anything about it.
2)Huge wall of xp
Well,thats a perception problem,why most players seem to enjoy the game only at highest levls is beyond me.
Hitting auto attack in NP newbie yard to slay a Decaying Skeleton is exactly the same as doing it in Cata to slay an Ancient Guardian.
3)no groups at low levels or shall I even say below 65 lately?
Thats a vicious circle,less players - less groups,resulting in even less players over all.
Possible solution (*takes a deep breath*):slow down xp gain at lower levels so more people stay longer at lower levels.
And I am really sorry to say,but this xp bonus during the account drive period is counter productive,it only helps the players already there,resulting in even widening the gap between
newbies and oldtimers.
Also there is the problem that established players just fly through the levels below 65 with
their twinked alts and babysit them with their high level chars(mostly Druids).Dont take me
wrong,I am guilty of doing it myself.
Solution(*Takes another deep breath*)
rohibit boxxing,again dont take me wrong I am afanatic boxxer myself.I know that's the most radical solution possible but it really cant be get
much worse as it is now with *only* 200 players online in the average and something
*must* be changed.Could be temporary for now to see what happens.If it doesnt bring and
even more important *keep* fresh blood it could be reverted to the old state.
4)Traveling too time consuming.
Another radical solution,sorry.
Give every player an Athica gate neck and non-gating classes the ability to gate right from the start,might be level limited for players level 1 to 64,once you hit 65 you have to do a quest to keep it.
Nebi
Dalayan Pious Diety
These points are all terrible in my opinion.
* Possible solution (*takes a deep breath*):slow down xp gain at lower levels so more people stay longer at lower levels.
*prohibit boxxing,4)Traveling too time consuming.
*Give every player an Athica gate neck and non-gating classes the ability to gate right from the start,might be level limited for players level 1 to 64,once you hit 65 you have to do a quest to keep it.[/QUOTE]
* Possible solution (*takes a deep breath*):slow down xp gain at lower levels so more people stay longer at lower levels.
*prohibit boxxing,4)Traveling too time consuming.
*Give every player an Athica gate neck and non-gating classes the ability to gate right from the start,might be level limited for players level 1 to 64,once you hit 65 you have to do a quest to keep it.[/QUOTE]
Click the quote button?
Zhak Zilla
Dalayan Beginner
This won't be nearly as long as it could be, or maybe even should be. But there are some huge reasons I see the server population only declining in the near future. I remember days where I saw the population of this server from 600-700 in prime time in the states.
1. The server and content never got any easier, I honestly believe that soloing with Zhak and Podge in First Ruins, Everchill, etc. is just as hard as it was when I was farming these zones back in 2006-2007. What I'm saying is that there aren't any realtively easy mobs in 5+ expansions that would've released in any other game to help make progressing easier. In games like EQ, WoW, etc. every time an expansion released (roughly once a year, give or take) you gain new aa's, abilities, levels, spells, you get the idea that progress your character greatly within a month of the expansion releasing. Characters, guilds, groups, etc are able to progress through older content quicker because of these additions. One can make the claim that Ikisith tomes do that, but when do characters start doing Ikisith tomes? Tier 10, 11? When <Forsaken> was doing full Thaz clears, HoHa/HoHb, full IP clears, learning sanctum etc we didn't have codex's, or if we did we were 5-30% through the first tome. Emberflow / Ikisith tomes are great for T11+ characters and guilds to progress, but you're probably not doing them until you reach that point.
I've been playing again for around 3 weeks now, Ikisith appears to me to be a high end expansion with little to no content in the T3-T8 area that would allow you to progress quicker than 2006.
2. Raids are no longer made around 36 people, you need less than half of the people you used to (yes I realize 18 is 50% of 36, but with alternates and extras, you needed more in a 36 man guild than you do with an 18 man squad.
3. I know people are going to fly off the handle on this, and I am off the mind that it is fine the way it is, but the fact that nothing is instanced is a big turn off to a lot of people. Tracking, extra characters to check spawn timers, recording the time of death are all pretty simple and easy things to do to be able to catch the mobs you want, but news flash, everyone else is doing it too. People don't like logging in to raid or kill content to find out over and over again that it's down. Again, I've always been of the mind that this is simply how EQ works and I really don't want to see a change after the server has been live for a decade, but if you're wanting to bring new people to this server, what can you really expect a brand new guild to do? They aren't going to be nearly as efficient as an established raid guild with killing targets and putting mobs on farm.
I live in Japan and really don't have an option when it comes to raiding as there simply isn't a raiding guild that raids in the times I am able to be online, so that is primarily the reason I am stepping back from the server, but the above are a few reasons why I don't see this server increasing it's population any time soon.
Good luck with the account drives and attracting people
1. The server and content never got any easier, I honestly believe that soloing with Zhak and Podge in First Ruins, Everchill, etc. is just as hard as it was when I was farming these zones back in 2006-2007. What I'm saying is that there aren't any realtively easy mobs in 5+ expansions that would've released in any other game to help make progressing easier. In games like EQ, WoW, etc. every time an expansion released (roughly once a year, give or take) you gain new aa's, abilities, levels, spells, you get the idea that progress your character greatly within a month of the expansion releasing. Characters, guilds, groups, etc are able to progress through older content quicker because of these additions. One can make the claim that Ikisith tomes do that, but when do characters start doing Ikisith tomes? Tier 10, 11? When <Forsaken> was doing full Thaz clears, HoHa/HoHb, full IP clears, learning sanctum etc we didn't have codex's, or if we did we were 5-30% through the first tome. Emberflow / Ikisith tomes are great for T11+ characters and guilds to progress, but you're probably not doing them until you reach that point.
I've been playing again for around 3 weeks now, Ikisith appears to me to be a high end expansion with little to no content in the T3-T8 area that would allow you to progress quicker than 2006.
2. Raids are no longer made around 36 people, you need less than half of the people you used to (yes I realize 18 is 50% of 36, but with alternates and extras, you needed more in a 36 man guild than you do with an 18 man squad.
3. I know people are going to fly off the handle on this, and I am off the mind that it is fine the way it is, but the fact that nothing is instanced is a big turn off to a lot of people. Tracking, extra characters to check spawn timers, recording the time of death are all pretty simple and easy things to do to be able to catch the mobs you want, but news flash, everyone else is doing it too. People don't like logging in to raid or kill content to find out over and over again that it's down. Again, I've always been of the mind that this is simply how EQ works and I really don't want to see a change after the server has been live for a decade, but if you're wanting to bring new people to this server, what can you really expect a brand new guild to do? They aren't going to be nearly as efficient as an established raid guild with killing targets and putting mobs on farm.
I live in Japan and really don't have an option when it comes to raiding as there simply isn't a raiding guild that raids in the times I am able to be online, so that is primarily the reason I am stepping back from the server, but the above are a few reasons why I don't see this server increasing it's population any time soon.
Good luck with the account drives and attracting people
I agree with zhak's post. One thing that I have had friends complain to me about here is. It is not easy to get to groups. They hate the mop. I have personally never died in the mop, but they have. Having to quest for spells to gate to a whole world of zones in ikisith that is too hard for them to get. It just not as easy to get to groups as they or I think it should be.
I know it is the way it is. Just the main complaint I have heard from people about sod.
I know it is the way it is. Just the main complaint I have heard from people about sod.
sheer1
Dalayan Elder
i agree with most things here, but it really all seems to boil down to retaining new players. everyone likes to have a little eq nostalgia and this server has so many other new and different things to offer, but some players don't stick around long enough to really see those differences and get into all the dalayan lore.
this is actually a good point, the mop is second nature to most people at this point and its very handy, but i can see a new player being blindsided by this 'easy' transport system. i know the npc tells you about it and makes you sign away all your sod rights before you can go in, but maybe there could be some low level exemption from the dangers while new people get their barrings.
you disturb the thing in there and it tells you and warns you but if you are below a certain level it says something like '..but then they dont care cause you are so puny but a more seasoned warrior would get cut down'
this is actually a good point, the mop is second nature to most people at this point and its very handy, but i can see a new player being blindsided by this 'easy' transport system. i know the npc tells you about it and makes you sign away all your sod rights before you can go in, but maybe there could be some low level exemption from the dangers while new people get their barrings.
you disturb the thing in there and it tells you and warns you but if you are below a certain level it says something like '..but then they dont care cause you are so puny but a more seasoned warrior would get cut down'
Honestly I found that the bonus XP did more harm then good. I saw plenty of people start playing but quit once they got to 65 and the bonus ended. It was like they were flying through the levels and then hit 65 and are getting a huge amount of AAs. Then the bonus xp ends and they are just kind of like 'fuck it' when they have to get XP at the regular rate. It kind of spoils them and then when they realize that it involves effort, they quit.
If anything it should work for players not level 65 only and give less bonus xp the closer you get to 65.
Lastly, the akheva in the MoP shouldn't go after players under level 25 or so.
If anything it should work for players not level 65 only and give less bonus xp the closer you get to 65.
Lastly, the akheva in the MoP shouldn't go after players under level 25 or so.