Server Mergers

Mikeha

Afther alot of speculation for months server merges have been announced. Alot of people agree that its needed while others say its a bad idea. I my self am all for it because regardless of what people say about clan halls, over crowded xp spots and forced named changes the overall game population is the more importants.

 

This is the post made on the official forums yesterday by the Community Manager Sauce.

Hi everybody,



Over the past several months, we've received much feedback requesting server merges. Up to this point, we have not publically discussed any specifics about server merge possibilities, as we have been working to identify the most appropriate course of action. We have been reviewing all of your feedback as well as statistics of server populations and the optimal population averages. We will be merging the servers.



The server merge specifics are being planned and we do not yet have the dates on when they will take place. For a server to have a fun and functional player base, it should have an average population of 3,000 players. The server merges should result as close to this number as possible. We will keep you informed throughout this process and you will be well-prepared by the time this happens.



We would like to open up this thread for discussion. Please know that this thread is not a place for accusations or flames against NCsoft or against one another. It is not a place to report in-game issues or inquire about other aspects of the game. We will highly moderate this thread, so please keep it cordial. We sincerely want to hear your thoughts, but we would sincerely appreciate them being appropriate.

__________________

Kyleran

Can't really disagree with the logic that a server needs about 3000 active players to provide the level of interaction that most MMO' require, but I can see where current holders of the castles  will dislike having to fight for them again or pay the extreme prices clan halls generally cost when the competition for them is high.

WSIMike

Originally posted by Kyleran

Can't really disagree with the logic that a server needs about 3000 active players to provide the level of interaction that most MMO' require, but I can see where current holders of the castles  will dislike having to fight for them again or pay the extreme prices clan halls generally cost when the competition for them is high.

Well, they have to fight for them every two weeks anyway (assuming someone signs up to attack, and then follow through)... This just places the castles back in NPC hands and so may the best Alliance win, I guess.

Though, the high end game of L2 is so influenced by botted and rmt'd characters that - as a fellow L2 player once put it - "they're not playing the same game as we are".

L2 has, hands down, the best, most comprehensive and pervasive PvP setup in any such MMO I've ever played. Whether through direct combat, control over resources, hunting areas, raid bosses, castle sieges, fortresses, whether Dusk or Dawn is winning and not to mention the fluid nature of the politics in that game (the real brilliance of the game, in my opinion)... no other PvP MMO that I've played has come close. And the best part... all the PvP in that game is meaningful and affects everyone in some way, directly or indirectly.

NCSoft may be an absentee landlord when it comes to the RMT issues in their games (something I've always been highly critical of them for), but at least in L2, they really got it right when it comes to setting up a PvP game. They set the stage for PvP to happen, provide means for players to have their influence over the areas and, indeed, each other, then get out of the way and let it happen.  Even the Olympiad feeds into the PvP elements... Competition over who gets to be a "Hero" for their class on the server... Heroes have a significant influence on the outcome of any given battle.

It's a shame that, when faced with some kind of challenge to overcome, so many people will immediately look for a way to cheat, hack or rmt their way around it. That, and how the players find ways to render the game's features moot... Taking Olympiad again.. Hero status is seldom ever truly earned in L2... It's arranged. It's decided that "so and so" is due for Hero status and then all the necessary players do their part, trading points, to make sure it happens. Though, interestingly, even if not handled the way it's supposed to be, it still lends to PvP in its own way... Someone trying to take Hero when it's not "their turn" is often placed on KoS.

So... yeah...

I dunno... I have great memories of L2, but as a game, it's definitely past its prime and, especially in the Western market, is definitely losing steam.

Here's hoping TERA is the spiritual successor to L2 that I hope it is.

Mikeha

As much as I am waiting for Tera I don't think it will be what L2 was. I will be playing Tera but only till L3 comes out.