Well, I've come across few guilds who decided to reroll on the most populous servers. Players often pile up on the most populous servers and ignore the low pop ones, making it harder to balance out. Even WoW has this issue.
There should be an incentive to pick a low pop server/factions, such as xp bonus or guild goodies.
I believe Rift had enough End Game material at launch. And they are adding more as they planned in the first place.
In my opinion, what hurts them is this lack of replayability. You find yourself doing the exact same quests when you roll alts.
And also, this thread title is misleading. Taking a sample of one low pop server and generalizing by calling Rift shards "GhostTowns" shows the OP's agenda behind this entire thread.
I still think Rift has had the cleanest launch sense WoW. Cleaner then WoWs launch actualy, I think its somthing to be comended for. All the trash these companies have been trying too put out is pathetic atleast Rift was actualy half playable.
Does no one stop to think that maybe a lot of people are leveling alts????
Doing /who for just level 50's is kind of pointless IMO. You should take everyone into consideration. Even if the majority of those that aren't alts of lvl 50s, lets say 80% of them, they will eventually be 50 and add to the playerbase. The free trials and the vast majority of free months are over so it's easy to say at this point that those that are on are going to stick around for a while.
Does no one stop to think that maybe a lot of people are leveling alts????
i would have agreed with this only if Trion had added different stories / areas for each race so we could enjoy rolling alts...
The way Rift is right now doesnt feel fun at all for alt rollers. I am an alt roller so i have had this unfun experience with alts... all the same with each race... i believe the majority of players still subbed are doing end game content over and over while a few are rolling alts and leveling through the same over and over....
theres a difference between not playing .. and not being subbed to play.. and ignoring the xfire jokes (it is one after all - i've never used it nor do i know anyone who has... and people who use steam.. don't use xfire) i would imagine that right now.. in the EU or at least in the UK.. its summer, its hot.. and staying indoors is for neets.. and others whose sleeping habits seem to emulate vampires.. (vampires don't do laundry )
Huge numbers of 'play for a month' gamers joined on day one, they always do. So extra servers were put on, now they need to combine a couple no big deal.
Huge numbers of 'play for a month' gamers joined on day one, they always do. So extra servers were put on, now they need to combine a couple no big deal.
True, no arguement about that. I myself count in those numbers.
But care to elaborate as to WHY that huge number has dwindled? All of us who played Rift know why.
P.S. I quit 2 days after I hit lvl 50, and thought about "what's next".
I just looked at the server population for this game...All but 3 servers are Medium population! Why would they do a server merge? Most games wish they had 100 servers with medium populations.
done the same, server is on medium mid day on a monday (bank holiday for some)
29 rogue
20 warrior
24 cleric
29 mage
There are also more users that are 40-49 then at 50 AT~M and far far more below that, give users that are enjoying the content more time to cap to get a real view on what medium population realy means.
The two sides to this thread seems to be those wishing the game would die because it didn't meet their expectations and those who think it's doing just fine thank you very much. Fine if the endgame dungeon crawl wasn't for you or you couldn't bear repeating the same content with an alt, good luck to you in your next game but what's with the glee of trying to make out the game is dying when it so clearly isn't?
Playstyle and expectations - Those that consider themselves hardcore rush to the end and wear out content leaving themselves with nothing to do, the game is two months old why would you expect more content than it has or why didn't you research what that endgame content was going to be? We all knew from the early betas that Rift wasn't offering anything very different from what we already have, now if you're bored with the WoW's, EQ2's etc of this world why would you think Rift was anything different and why would you think it would offer as much content as games that have been out years? Your disappointment is your own fault - either through lack of research or having the wrong expectations. Trion made clear from the offset what to expect of endgame and plenty of beta players posted their thoughts on these very forums.
I'm in a casual guild, which is obviously what the game in its current state is best suited to, we have several lvl 50's but the majority are still working their way up, the 50's are happy doing dailies, invasions, crafting and warfronts and some of us are even leveling alts, the difference with leveling alts being we haven't done the starter content in a while so we aren't burnt out on it yet.
I'm happy to admit that its one of the most alt unfriendly games I've ever played and that it doesn't do anything vastly different from what we already have but you know what- I'm still enjoying it because I knew what to expect from the get go and I have a great guild to experience the content with.
As I said earlier my server is absolutely fine, Trion did what they thought was best by increasing servers to stop the queues at launch, who wants to spend more time queuing than gaming with a game they just bought? It was inevitable that after the first month the population would drop, happens with every single release, so yes server merges should come for those that are quiet and are to be expected, which will no doubt then give the naysayers more fuel to their fire while ignoring realistic expectations of how these things normally go.
Move on folks if your that disappointed by the game, sorry it wasn't for you, when I get bored I'll keep it to myself and move on rather than wish the game ill.
Move on folks if your that disappointed by the game, sorry it wasn't for you, when I get bored I'll keep it to myself and move on rather than wish the game ill.
Well, I wish this game ill, I admit it. I really hope (and also believe) the population will plumet down to WAR/AoC levels.
Why?
Not because of hatred. Not at all.
I hope (and think) it will fail because it's just another sub par attempt at a WoW clone, with inferior content, inferior gameplay, inferior world size, no replayability for alts because of a very linear single progression path. The only thing it arguably did better is the polish, compared to the other WoW wannabe clones we had these last years.
So if it fails like its predecessors, it may stop future MMORPG developers from trying the same crap again and again. Maybe we will finally get something really new and original, and not a poor WoW clone with "fake" dynamism.
And I'm sure I'm not the only one who played Rift and thinks that way.
Respect, walk, what did you say? Respect, walk Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me? - PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
So then you have to wish ill for SWTOR too because even BW folks draw up endless comparisons with WoW, and basically it is same old with story and inability to swim or dive.
Since I have yet to see that game myself, I will reserve my judgement for that moment. Maybe Bioware will manage to serve us something still better than the usual clone crap with their heavily story based gameplay.
But we'll talk about that once the game is in beta and we can try it ourselves.
I also didn't judge Rift before I tried it personally.
My grief is that once again, a developer tried to use WoW's hype (you are not in Azeroth anymore? yeah sure...) and success to sell a similar, but sub par product. That trend needs to stop someday. If have nothing against clones per se, but then they need to have what it takes to compete with the original.
All this in my opinion only, of course.
Respect, walk, what did you say? Respect, walk Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me? - PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
Originally posted by The_Korrigan Originally posted by EvilGeekMove on folks if your that disappointed by the game, sorry it wasn't for you, when I get bored I'll keep it to myself and move on rather than wish the game ill.
Well, I wish this game ill, I admit it. I really hope (and also believe) the population will plumet down to WAR/AoC levels. Why? Not because of hatred. Not at all. I hope (and think) it will fail because it's just another sub par attempt at a WoW clone, with inferior content, inferior gameplay, inferior world size, no replayability for alts because of a very linear single progression path. The only thing it arguably did better is the polish, compared to the other WoW wannabe clones we had these last years. So if it fails like its predecessors, it may stop future MMORPG developers from trying the same crap again and again. Maybe we will finally get something really new and original, and not a poor WoW clone with "fake" dynamism. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who played Rift and thinks that way.
Each to their own but I have to disagree on the inferior gameplay, I find it much more interesting than WoW's but thats a subjective thing.
I disagree with this idea that the more games like this are successful the less chance of anything ground breaking happening. It's painfully clear that as a player base we want something new and invigorating to liven up the genre and there are developers out there well aware of that fact and a few titles on the horizon (which may not be your cup of tea) that are planning on pushing the genre forward, heck even Trion themselves are working on another title and I'm hoping Rift is just the cash cow to help them create something unique and aimed away from the casual crowd of WoW and its ilk.
I'm not a Rift fan boy by any stretch, I'm well aware of its short comings but it hasn't stopped me having fun, but I know that if TSW, GW2 or SW:tOR live up to their hype I'll be dropping Rift for sure.
I just looked at the server population for this game...All but 3 servers are Medium population! Why would they do a server merge? Most games wish they had 100 servers with medium populations.
i honestly wish people would read forums and posts before writing.It been said on numerous posts including offical posts that the term medium in rift is very misleading as there are people posting on offical forums that they cannot even get 1 raid coalition going at prime time.
my cleric is on one of this medium server and we cannot even get a full 50s raid going at prime time and this is with an alliance of 7 guilds.
my warrior on another medium server has loads of people to play with on the other hand.
stop using the medium as a measurement of rift server health.
i honestly wish people would read forums and posts before writing.It been said on numerous posts including offical posts that the term medium in rift is very misleading as there are people posting on offical forums that they cannot even get 1 raid coalition going at prime time.
my cleric is on one of this medium server and we cannot even get a full 50s raid going at prime time and this is with an alliance of 7 guilds.
my warrior on another medium server has loads of people to play with on the other hand.
stop using the medium as a measurement of rift server health.
It's probably because this 'measurement' count both factions, which can be very unbalanced from a server to another.
It's probably because this 'measurement' count both factions, which can be very unbalanced from a server to another.
Most people check both factions when they measure a population. There are medium servers that are ghost towns on both sides for sure. Medium is really small, from what people have tested it could be as low as 300 players and certainly isn't higher than 500 for the low end.
Iirc TRION added a lot of extra servers at release, to lower the waiting queue (can't and won't blame them for that - I even praise them for the extra servers), just like Aion did at release. But then the next problem pops up: when half your playerbase can hit the maximum level in 2 weeks without too much playing / grinding, you need to have a good 'end-game' to keep those maxed out players entertained. But from reports on this site, all I hear is that ppl are bored becasue you only have a few daily quests and instances to run and they refer to it as "I did not leave WoW for the same thing over again".
Personally, I think new MMORPG developers should think about what they're offering their players. Why make a 'copy' of an already super successful game and hope enough players hop and 25% of those will stay on your game instead of return to the 'original'. Ppl thought that RIFT would be a real 'next gen' MMORPG, but only see that some mechanics are 'refreshing' (not even 'next gen'), and the 'end game' when you hit maximum level is the same sh!t each day over and over again.
Just when will developers see that their players are not looking to do the same repeatative daily quests and instances over and over again, waiting for a new expansion, after which they hit the new cap in a week and are on the saim repeatative dailies & instances again. As much as I dislike WoW, I can't disagree with those saying that they didn't leave WoW to find the same mechanics at maximum level again, but only with a newer shine...
Developers should have to really add the 'next gen' to their games instead of only advertising of their game to be 'next gen'. They could hold on of the daily & instance mechanics, but also have to add something new and refreshing, which is new each time you do it. There I found the sieges in Lineage II very 'next gen'. Though the castles & fortresses are on fixed locations, each siege is different from the last one. Same thing with Aion to gain control over the fortresses (PvPVe) in the Abyss (never got past 25 in AIon, but I know how the game mechanics work in the Abbyss).
This is what I call next gen - a developer that puts real new aspects to the set standard of WoW (Aion) or leaves that standard completely and keeps the development of their game that's as old as WoW in it's original form (Lineage II).
For this reason, I think TERA might be more of a success then most ppl might realize. TERA will give the standard 'end game', but enhance it with new aspects by adding player controlled cities.
...just my 2 cents...
It's quite simple really, Studios have come up with a brilliant idea how do get money to fund thier next MMO or whatever project they have planned.
They rely on boxsales to get the money back what they have invested and put the rest in thier next project, the monthly subs is mearly pocket money for fuleing the servers, wages ect.
At this very moment all US servers are medium with one low. it's 1:33 PM EST my time. Thats not bad considering most people in the US around me are at work and its very early in the rest of the US. EU SME U.
##Best SWTOR of 2011 Posted by I_Return - SWTOR - "Forget the UI the characters and all ofhe nitpicking bullshit" "Greatest MMO Ever Created"
##Fail Thread Title of 2011 Originally posted by daveospice "this game looks like crap?"
At this very moment all US servers are medium with one low. it's 1:33 PM EST my time. Thats not bad considering most people in the US around me are at work and its very early in the rest of the US. EU SME U.
I have never trusted the server count like low,medium,heavy,full.
Why you ask, well devs can change the numbers just to delude the real numbers.
Take Vanguard for an example, when a server is medium there is maby 200-300 online, I don't call that medium I call that low.
So no I don't trust those things only one I trust and that's full, usally you can't log in so that's a profe that the server is full.
Well Btrayal, are you playing a MMO now? To drop a MMO when you have no MMO to replace it with is the hallmark of a gamer who is only plays MMO's as a stepping stone between his other gaming titles.
Rift has had end game issues, all MMO's do, what surprises me is that they allowed such fast leveling. Had we say leveled half as fast they would have had twice the time to prepare end game content. For me, helping out guildies, expert dungeons, the PvP and some roleplaying are enough.
They have announced transfers (and presumably mergers) but given no date, not next patch though. The lack of a date and the general absence of people on my server forced me to quit, And I hate the end game grind.
Comments
Did you Boys and Girls honestly expect something different? There is no Holy Grail to be found in this game.
The hardcore Gamers realized it 3-4Weeks after Launch. So you do know
*Looks on watch/calender* "Little late, eh?"
Better late than never. Don't waste your time!
Well, I've come across few guilds who decided to reroll on the most populous servers. Players often pile up on the most populous servers and ignore the low pop ones, making it harder to balance out. Even WoW has this issue.
There should be an incentive to pick a low pop server/factions, such as xp bonus or guild goodies.
I believe Rift had enough End Game material at launch. And they are adding more as they planned in the first place.
In my opinion, what hurts them is this lack of replayability. You find yourself doing the exact same quests when you roll alts.
And also, this thread title is misleading. Taking a sample of one low pop server and generalizing by calling Rift shards "GhostTowns" shows the OP's agenda behind this entire thread.
I still think Rift has had the cleanest launch sense WoW. Cleaner then WoWs launch actualy, I think its somthing to be comended for. All the trash these companies have been trying too put out is pathetic atleast Rift was actualy half playable.
Does no one stop to think that maybe a lot of people are leveling alts????
Doing /who for just level 50's is kind of pointless IMO. You should take everyone into consideration. Even if the majority of those that aren't alts of lvl 50s, lets say 80% of them, they will eventually be 50 and add to the playerbase. The free trials and the vast majority of free months are over so it's easy to say at this point that those that are on are going to stick around for a while.
i would have agreed with this only if Trion had added different stories / areas for each race so we could enjoy rolling alts...
The way Rift is right now doesnt feel fun at all for alt rollers. I am an alt roller so i have had this unfun experience with alts... all the same with each race... i believe the majority of players still subbed are doing end game content over and over while a few are rolling alts and leveling through the same over and over....
theres a difference between not playing .. and not being subbed to play.. and ignoring the xfire jokes (it is one after all - i've never used it nor do i know anyone who has... and people who use steam.. don't use xfire) i would imagine that right now.. in the EU or at least in the UK.. its summer, its hot.. and staying indoors is for neets.. and others whose sleeping habits seem to emulate vampires.. (vampires don't do laundry
) 
Huge numbers of 'play for a month' gamers joined on day one, they always do. So extra servers were put on, now they need to combine a couple no big deal.
True, no arguement about that. I myself count in those numbers.
But care to elaborate as to WHY that huge number has dwindled?
All of us who played Rift know why.
P.S. I quit 2 days after I hit lvl 50, and thought about "what's next".
Wait a minute...
I just looked at the server population for this game...All but 3 servers are Medium population! Why would they do a server merge? Most games wish they had 100 servers with medium populations.
done the same, server is on medium mid day on a monday (bank holiday for some)
29 rogue
20 warrior
24 cleric
29 mage
There are also more users that are 40-49 then at 50 AT~M and far far more below that, give users that are enjoying the content more time to cap to get a real view on what medium population realy means.
Whitefall EU
The two sides to this thread seems to be those wishing the game would die because it didn't meet their expectations and those who think it's doing just fine thank you very much. Fine if the endgame dungeon crawl wasn't for you or you couldn't bear repeating the same content with an alt, good luck to you in your next game but what's with the glee of trying to make out the game is dying when it so clearly isn't?
Playstyle and expectations - Those that consider themselves hardcore rush to the end and wear out content leaving themselves with nothing to do, the game is two months old why would you expect more content than it has or why didn't you research what that endgame content was going to be? We all knew from the early betas that Rift wasn't offering anything very different from what we already have, now if you're bored with the WoW's, EQ2's etc of this world why would you think Rift was anything different and why would you think it would offer as much content as games that have been out years? Your disappointment is your own fault - either through lack of research or having the wrong expectations. Trion made clear from the offset what to expect of endgame and plenty of beta players posted their thoughts on these very forums.
I'm in a casual guild, which is obviously what the game in its current state is best suited to, we have several lvl 50's but the majority are still working their way up, the 50's are happy doing dailies, invasions, crafting and warfronts and some of us are even leveling alts, the difference with leveling alts being we haven't done the starter content in a while so we aren't burnt out on it yet.
I'm happy to admit that its one of the most alt unfriendly games I've ever played and that it doesn't do anything vastly different from what we already have but you know what- I'm still enjoying it because I knew what to expect from the get go and I have a great guild to experience the content with.
As I said earlier my server is absolutely fine, Trion did what they thought was best by increasing servers to stop the queues at launch, who wants to spend more time queuing than gaming with a game they just bought? It was inevitable that after the first month the population would drop, happens with every single release, so yes server merges should come for those that are quiet and are to be expected, which will no doubt then give the naysayers more fuel to their fire while ignoring realistic expectations of how these things normally go.
Move on folks if your that disappointed by the game, sorry it wasn't for you, when I get bored I'll keep it to myself and move on rather than wish the game ill.
Well, I wish this game ill, I admit it. I really hope (and also believe) the population will plumet down to WAR/AoC levels.
Why?
Not because of hatred. Not at all.
I hope (and think) it will fail because it's just another sub par attempt at a WoW clone, with inferior content, inferior gameplay, inferior world size, no replayability for alts because of a very linear single progression path. The only thing it arguably did better is the polish, compared to the other WoW wannabe clones we had these last years.
So if it fails like its predecessors, it may stop future MMORPG developers from trying the same crap again and again. Maybe we will finally get something really new and original, and not a poor WoW clone with "fake" dynamism.
And I'm sure I'm not the only one who played Rift and thinks that way.
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
- PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
Since I have yet to see that game myself, I will reserve my judgement for that moment. Maybe Bioware will manage to serve us something still better than the usual clone crap with their heavily story based gameplay.
But we'll talk about that once the game is in beta and we can try it ourselves.
I also didn't judge Rift before I tried it personally.
My grief is that once again, a developer tried to use WoW's hype (you are not in Azeroth anymore? yeah sure...) and success to sell a similar, but sub par product. That trend needs to stop someday. If have nothing against clones per se, but then they need to have what it takes to compete with the original.
All this in my opinion only, of course.
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
- PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
Why?
Not because of hatred. Not at all.
I hope (and think) it will fail because it's just another sub par attempt at a WoW clone, with inferior content, inferior gameplay, inferior world size, no replayability for alts because of a very linear single progression path. The only thing it arguably did better is the polish, compared to the other WoW wannabe clones we had these last years.
So if it fails like its predecessors, it may stop future MMORPG developers from trying the same crap again and again. Maybe we will finally get something really new and original, and not a poor WoW clone with "fake" dynamism.
And I'm sure I'm not the only one who played Rift and thinks that way.
Each to their own but I have to disagree on the inferior gameplay, I find it much more interesting than WoW's but thats a subjective thing.
I disagree with this idea that the more games like this are successful the less chance of anything ground breaking happening. It's painfully clear that as a player base we want something new and invigorating to liven up the genre and there are developers out there well aware of that fact and a few titles on the horizon (which may not be your cup of tea) that are planning on pushing the genre forward, heck even Trion themselves are working on another title and I'm hoping Rift is just the cash cow to help them create something unique and aimed away from the casual crowd of WoW and its ilk.
I'm not a Rift fan boy by any stretch, I'm well aware of its short comings but it hasn't stopped me having fun, but I know that if TSW, GW2 or SW:tOR live up to their hype I'll be dropping Rift for sure.
i honestly wish people would read forums and posts before writing.It been said on numerous posts including offical posts that the term medium in rift is very misleading as there are people posting on offical forums that they cannot even get 1 raid coalition going at prime time.
my cleric is on one of this medium server and we cannot even get a full 50s raid going at prime time and this is with an alliance of 7 guilds.
my warrior on another medium server has loads of people to play with on the other hand.
stop using the medium as a measurement of rift server health.
It's probably because this 'measurement' count both factions, which can be very unbalanced from a server to another.
Most people check both factions when they measure a population. There are medium servers that are ghost towns on both sides for sure. Medium is really small, from what people have tested it could be as low as 300 players and certainly isn't higher than 500 for the low end.
It's quite simple really, Studios have come up with a brilliant idea how do get money to fund thier next MMO or whatever project they have planned.
They rely on boxsales to get the money back what they have invested and put the rest in thier next project, the monthly subs is mearly pocket money for fuleing the servers, wages ect.
If it's not broken, you are not innovating.
At this very moment all US servers are medium with one low. it's 1:33 PM EST my time. Thats not bad considering most people in the US around me are at work and its very early in the rest of the US. EU SME U.
##Best SWTOR of 2011
Posted by I_Return - SWTOR - "Forget the UI the characters and all ofhe nitpicking bullshit" "Greatest MMO Ever Created"
##Fail Thread Title of 2011
Originally posted by daveospice
"this game looks like crap?"
I have never trusted the server count like low,medium,heavy,full.
Why you ask, well devs can change the numbers just to delude the real numbers.
Take Vanguard for an example, when a server is medium there is maby 200-300 online, I don't call that medium I call that low.
So no I don't trust those things only one I trust and that's full, usally you can't log in so that's a profe that the server is full.
If it's not broken, you are not innovating.
Well Btrayal, are you playing a MMO now? To drop a MMO when you have no MMO to replace it with is the hallmark of a gamer who is only plays MMO's as a stepping stone between his other gaming titles.
Rift has had end game issues, all MMO's do, what surprises me is that they allowed such fast leveling. Had we say leveled half as fast they would have had twice the time to prepare end game content. For me, helping out guildies, expert dungeons, the PvP and some roleplaying are enough.
They have announced transfers (and presumably mergers) but given no date, not next patch though. The lack of a date and the general absence of people on my server forced me to quit, And I hate the end game grind.
Chins