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Overflow, how does it work exactly?
cutthecrap
Member Posts: 600
Maybe this question has been answered already, I thought I had a good idea of it, until I read some statements of people regarding it that made me confused about it again.
How does it work exactly, is that clear already?
This is what I knew so far, or thought I knew:
- areas have a player cap, in the sense that there's a limit to the number of people who can be in a zone or area, although devs stated that the cap is so high that it'd only be rare that the cap would be reached.
- when a server is full, you get directed to an overflow server, which I assume is nothing but one of the other servers that at that time are lower in population
- there'll be no multiple instances of an area on 1 server
How will it be for areas, like starter areas, that have reached their cap? Will you get redirected to the same area on an overflow server? Or do you just get the message 'cap is reached for this area'?
Comments
I'm assuming its purpose is to limit the amount of players allowed in a specific area, but in reality it's complete butt(My butthurt opinion).
When you attempt to fast travel or enter an area that has reached a player cap, then the game will prompt you with an option to join a queue to get into that shard, or to instantly join a different shard. Some people might consider this an immersion breaker, and then I would remove them from my friends list.
It's simply a more advanced iteration(bet you love that word by now) of the original Guild Wars population mitigation. The rare occurence will "occur" anytime there is a publicly announced event. An example would be future holiday events. Especially if there are hats involved, everyone loves hats!
This is the actual confirmed situation right now? When you enter a zone/area that is full, you can enter the zone on another server, one with a lower population, or wait in a queue?
I don't see what'd be wrong with it, sounds workable to me. The only issue I can foresee is at launch time, when the servers and specifically the starter areas will be swarmed with players.
Have people already found out what number the player cap is at for a zone? Or if it'll be the same number for all the areas or vary like in AoC, where the outdoor area cap could be different from an intown player cap like in tavern instances?
Basically, instead of getting into a que like in other games you get the option to play on another server for a while instead.
I think it is great because you don't have to, if you only want to play on your server you can wait instead. some people were complaining about it but I don't see why, even if they only want to play on their server it will cut the que for them shorter since some people wont care and will play on the overflow server.
Everybody wins.
Of course in a perfect world there wouldn't be any need since we all would play on a gigantic server, but that just isn't feasable in a game like this.
They have managed to get over 300 people on the WvW zones so I expect that the amount they can handle on the PvE zones will be similar. Outside of the first week starting areas and continuing I do not expect it to matter except of course for Holiday Events, but I think cities are handled differently then normal Zones, probably like the GW1 cities where they have multiple districts depending on the number of people.
I just want to clarify that while you play on the overflow server you're still qued and the moment a space opens on your server you get asked if you want to move there. All the progress you've achieved is kept. Pretty simple.
Just to add. Again the "More options" philosophy shines
Just remember that it is a beta, and things do go wrong with this system.
Also something to note, DE's are completely separate between shards. At that note, if you combine the knowledge that gear deteriorates upon each time you're defeated, you can probably figure out an issue with the system.
Is this different from how SWTOR does it? I know a lot of people in SWTOR complain the game doesn't feel like an MMO because the zones hold like 10 people it seems.
As far as I know this only happens on a per server basis. That is, each server has an "overflow" version of it. I haven't heard anything about it happening for each zone, but I'm not sure.
The gameplay in SWTOR tends to break down when there are too many people in an area because the game is designed in a way that creates competition for quest objectives which causes players to resent one another.
Dynamic events and phased harvesting nodes do not have this effect. Content can become trivial if there are way too many people around, but you're never robbed of your ability to play or rewards as is the case in of most MMOs. Because of this, the player limits can be based on what the server can handle instead of trying to "optimize your personal gameplay experience".
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
He's hit the nail on the head.
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I'm not afraid to tell trolls what they [need] to hear, even if that means for me to have an forced absence afterwards.
P2P LOGIC = If it's P2P it means longevity, overall better game, and THE BEST SUPPORT EVER!!!!!(Which has been rinsed and repeated about a thousand times)
Common Sense Logic = P2P logic is no better than F2P Logic.
Over at Kill Ten Rats Ravious talks about his experience with the overflow servers (it's the second paragraph) http://www.killtenrats.com/2012/03/26/gw2-the-opening-crush-of-closed-beta/