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HighWatch server activities

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Comments

  • kedroskedros ✭✭
    To close character creation on all servers unless you already have a 60+ there(Todo this even along side a name release aswell to limit -some- i know not all but still some people holding onto names).
    Then label Highwatch as the official New-Comers server where all new players will start; HW could then have modified exp tables and loot tables all geared towards helping new players, Special quests and NPC's aswell(That would normally break a regular server).
    Then once they would hit level 65 After doing some quest(say example doing 200 level 65 vaugards) they would receive a Graduation ticket earning a free transfer to a regular server(Being extremely careful about what items could be transferred and how much because this is an easier server and would be abused, also limiting/Not allowing server transfers into HW to prevent cross server trading).

    This wouldn't solve the problem by enticing people todo more harder endgame content, instead however makes HW a learning server. Easing the communities on other servers with newbies coming into LFG runs, and explaining what todo for every class. That would all be done on HW.

    I don't know how I feel about this idea TBH, but the person who brought it to me didn't want to post on the forum in fear of being flamed and whatnot So I got their approval todo it for them.

    For the current playerbase this is the same as a free server transfer. I can forsee problems too, such as servers reaching their capacity with this method (unless they close off those servers than reaching a similar state as now). Playing on a temporary server seems counterproductive to me as well. perhaps it works, i cant say for sure.

    I also would rather stay in HW, instead of being forced to leave. If i had a solid idea how to help fix this situation, i would do so, since I think this is mostly a community problem. However, at this point im clueless where to even start. Im not a top player, however much i would want to be. im not well-known and play at odd european hours, so im not even sure my ideas would have effect.

    EME wont be able to fix everything for us with rewards or incentives because that would cause a tantrum from the other servers who dont receive this treatment. At this point, EME can only "fix" HW by leaving it and giving the players free transfers, or server merge. which to me, should be a last resort.
  • edited June 2016
    voidy wrote: »
    And honestly, even if we ignore the issue of "how many people are in town X" and just look at LFG, it's pretty clear that Highwatch has an issue. Even the casual roleplaying server has a healthier looking LFG than a PVE server with no indication of being casual to anyone who joins it for the first time.
    It's most likely because CH is a more-established server and has a reason (RP) to keep people tied to it (even if they don't participate themselves), so the established guilds and community have more loyalty to the server. As a newer server without as much of an established community, there's nothing really keeping people stuck to HW, and even if you ignore server transfers, the leveling process has been so streamlined that starting over (particularly at the start of a new gear cycle) is not so unlikely. Thus the server's end-game community is not able to endure the normal ebbs and flows caused by the content cycle.
    voidy wrote: »
    And regarding the first part of your post, I was there when they made the server and I remember CH being packed but never so bad that I couldn't log in. Perhaps other servers had it worse, but I thought HW was an unnecessary addition back then, at the height of the bubble.
    Perhaps you were founder so didn't get the queues, but the instance server lag/crashes (due to world over-capacity) was the biggest problem. It was really bad. Whether it was the only possible/feasible solution for the problem at hand, only the IT staff can know (my inclination is that most companies and IT departments wouldn't have wanted to do this if it weren't deemed necessary, particularly given that they know the mess of server merges from last time it happened), but it definitely stabilized the situation at the time. It wasn't just a medium spike in demand like we had with Ninja or Brawler -- Steam brought in a veritable flood of new people. They also lowered the minimum level and kept free incoming transfers for a month to try to even things out. (I think we all questioned at the time why MT was left in the list of free servers at that time, but that is less of an issue as it relates to HW and more to LoT/VoT.)

    It easy to say in retrospect that if they had never created the server people wouldn't be in this thread complaining now, but that doesn't really address the fact that the actual player count still isn't the problem (as, given the numbers now, it doesn't warrant a merge). The issue is, as has been said all along, how to stop the self-perpetuating cycle that causes popular servers to get more popular and unpopular servers to lose its skilled players to the more popular ones. (It's a problem that exists on other MMOs too, of course. The partial software solution usually involves some extension of cross-server play.)
  • Just have a few comments on the LFG situation in HW based on my experience:

    1. I once managed to fall asleep while waiting for LFG. Waited for 1hr+ for any decent LFG to open up
    2. LFG group shouting for 30mins just to get a Tank for KDHM (not even SSHM mind you)
    3. Sometimes, i wont be able to do any dg unless i do it with guildies. Cos that is just how often LFG pops out

    Conclusion: there is certainly a problem in HW in terms of endgame content. Not something that can brushed aside just based on the number of newbies online
  • DeathologistDeathologist ✭✭✭
    edited June 2016
    I can propose something harsh since we are not getting anything useful out of anyone important here,

    DO NOT DO ANYTHING ON HW and DO NOT TRANSFER TOO, Get your login awards and calendar and leave it there.
    (we should use that attitude, would it be the final resort? I don't like it we are getting pushed back here)

    I have at least 10 lvl 65 scattered in Tera, HW is pathetic. deal with it.

    But I believe even if we didn't hear about it but the catalyst event brought up again because of this thread and you people mentioned. But again there is a huge problem, in HW those people who could run Hard modes are already gone, what about that?

    Note: If for a minute I didn't like EME and believed that they don't care I wouldn't come back to the game and wouldn't stay in it. I left Smite with 200$ spent on it, left LOL way before with 250$ on it, I don't stay where I suffer or that the Publisher or the developer doesn't care, we have a very huge problem here, EME cares more than BHS/Nexon the game developers, I am sorry but they F.ing suck, if EME was in charge we had a better chance, They might have good designers but they don't know how to run a game, Look at Blizzard and its crap of a game WOW, Tera is 100 times better but look how Blizzard is running that game and handle it and look how BHS/Nexon is running the game. The problem here is the game developers, we get that EME but we wanna push you and we want you to push those idiots because we love this game, and because that we love it, we criticize it and we suggest for solutions and we want a larger community and more money for you, but what do you want for us? Are you going to deny why after gunner patch those many player didn't stay? Are you going to deny 100 people and listen to 3 people that are defending you by all means necessary? Most of those were defending Tera, and got me banned from old forums left the game and no where to find but I stayed because I care about this and I love it.

    So, EME we are not pushing it because we hate it, but because we love Tera and we like you as a publisher but we all know the new efforts and the 2016 review not gonna be helpful, we had all that in 2015 too. Learn from other games and listen to what players say.
  • Ive been in the game for over 3 years now, and I ve never seen any Server Merger despite that players were already complaining about dead servers. Yet the game is still fun and going on.

    After Beta, There was a Server Merger but that was to merely to separate PVP from PVE. Then again, about 18 months ago, 1 month after Steam was released, a FREE SERVER TRANSFER event came up that lasted 1 week. This really hurt less populated servers, such as VOT in which most if not all of the big guilds entirely transferred to other servers. Most going to MT.

    A good way to check the population is to see activity upon the release of major content. Then again, it slowly goes down, till the next release.

    Not sure what to say. Another FREE server transfer event, maybe is a solution, maybe not. Server Mergers are a no go. Too much hassle for the Support team. Too many complains.

    Then there is the economic aspect of each Server which varies a lot. Higher PoP servers have more items, and cheaper. Lower pop servers have less offers at a higher price, etc etc.

    Now for me, personally, its about the ability to find parties to run stuff and have fun with be it with guildies or just LFG. And being in MT is a blessing. Anytime i press Y i get 2 pages of parties looking for players to do pvp and pve.
  • Wunzigan wrote: »
    Ive been in the game for over 3 years now, and I ve never seen any Server Merger despite that players were already complaining about dead servers. Yet the game is still fun and going on.

    After Beta, There was a Server Merger but that was to merely to separate PVP from PVE. Then again, about 18 months ago, 1 month after Steam was released, a FREE SERVER TRANSFER event came up that lasted 1 week. This really hurt less populated servers, such as VOT in which most if not all of the big guilds entirely transferred to other servers. Most going to MT.

    A good way to check the population is to see activity upon the release of major content. Then again, it slowly goes down, till the next release.

    Not sure what to say. Another FREE server transfer event, maybe is a solution, maybe not. Server Mergers are a no go. Too much hassle for the Support team. Too many complains.

    Then there is the economic aspect of each Server which varies a lot. Higher PoP servers have more items, and cheaper. Lower pop servers have less offers at a higher price, etc etc.

    Now for me, personally, its about the ability to find parties to run stuff and have fun with be it with guildies or just LFG. And being in MT is a blessing. Anytime i press Y i get 2 pages of parties looking for players to do pvp and pve.

    no one wants server transfer, no one wants server merge, they have names they like and many other aspects, ppl here argue that EME accept that HW server needs help, me and some others gave some good suggestions and we saw the Kyra Shack returns to make people run dungeons more and this is a new step.

    So get it out of your system, no one wants to move or merge server now, and hopefully EME understood the frustration and is going to make his moves. I am glad that this thread is actually seen and considered.
  • RikterRikter ✭✭
    I am actually shocked that there hasnt been an EME response on this. I have been monitoring this thread to see what would come of it. I still have my other main on HW, but looks like i will just have to fork out the $$$ to transfer him to TR with my other main.
  • MesogogMesogog ✭✭✭
    I guess Highwatch iz become BYEwatch AHAHAHAHAHAHA

    HAHAHAHA....

    haha....

    ....

    *goes back to bed*
  • RikterRikter ✭✭
    The players that transferred to TR from HW call it dedwatch :P
  • edited June 2016
    We need actual action now, and at this point I want a free server transfer because Enmasse is too incompetent or ignorant to address this problem.
    So what "actual action" is the most appropriate to solve this problem, then?

    - Merging the server is not, because the metrics don't justify it.
    - Giving free server transfers is not, because it will only make the situation worse.
    - Offering free inbound transfers won't necessarily entice people because of the reputation the server now has.
    - Closing new character creation and transfers on the popular servers seems likely to backfire.
    - Providing some sort of unique HW incentive is risky; what would entice without being unfair? (You proposed a HW-specific BuddyUp system, but will that ensure people stick around to participate in end-game even once they hit 65?)
    - Implementing a cross-server LFG system may be a good idea, but it would require BHS to program it (good luck with that)
    - Creating a better stream of content to avoid the lulls is a great idea, but again, BHS doesn't seem to have the resources to handle what they're doing now.

    The most feasible thing that was suggested was to do a Guild Fair to at least try to raise the profile of the guilds that exist to help find new blood. That probably won't fix it, but it's something. Other than that, what are you wanting them to do?
  • RikterRikter ✭✭
    I will say that the only reason i chose HW was because it was "recommended" and at the time i knew squat about this game. I should have researched it but instead i went with what was recommended.
  • CezzareCezzare ✭✭✭
    We need actual action now, and at this point I want a free server transfer because Enmasse is too incompetent or ignorant to address this problem.
    So what "actual action" is the most appropriate to solve this problem, then?

    - Merging the server is not, because the metrics don't justify it.
    - Giving free server transfers is not, because it will only make the situation worse.
    - Offering free inbound transfers won't necessarily entice people because of the reputation the server now has.
    - Closing new character creation and transfers on the popular servers seems likely to backfire.
    - Providing some sort of unique HW incentive is risky; what would entice without being unfair? (You proposed a HW-specific BuddyUp system, but will that ensure people stick around to participate in end-game even once they hit 65?)
    - Implementing a cross-server LFG system may be a good idea, but it would require BHS to program it (good luck with that)
    - Creating a better stream of content to avoid the lulls is a great idea, but again, BHS doesn't seem to have the resources to handle what they're doing now.

    The most feasible thing that was suggested was to do a Guild Fair to at least try to raise the profile of the guilds that exist to help find new blood. That probably won't fix it, but it's something. Other than that, what are you wanting them to do?

    Bluehole doesn't even run Tera anymore. They sold the rights to Nexon or some other company. Which brings me to something; I am not calling for Bluehole to do anything, I am calling for Enmasse to do something. They have liscenced rights, which means they can do minor development for the health of the game as needed for their region. NA Tera is an "Incomplete" game because the development for the Talent system was canceled for localization to other regions. KTera developed with having the talent system in mind for many things including how hard SSHM was, class balances, and so on. Enmasse has been copy pasting these balances that do not correlate in the same way to our copy of the game due to the "incomplete" nature of NA Tera.

    One thing they can do is to balance things for themselves to adjust this. We have gone over that one of the biggest problems with these low pop servers is quality of players, and when a dungeon is basicaly impossible for most players to do it kills endgame content. Now me and others can run SSHM but I have to wait for specific people to log on and some of those people have gotten tired of waiting and left. Rebalancing for themselves would greatly increase the availability of engame content and encourage players to try it instead of looking at endgame like some immovable wall.

    [filtered], Enmasse could even say "we know KTera chose to not let out the Talent system for other regions because it had caused many problems at the start. However, now that they have developed and balanced it to a point we can copy what they currently have and add it here skipping several of the problems and bringing KTera and NA tera closer together in terms of gameplay"

    Will Enmasse do this? Probbaly not, that will require them to do more than just copy the cheat sheet for localization that Bluehole (and now Nexon) gives them. Enmasse from what I have seen is incredible lazy. Look at what happened to FIHM, they had a problem and it was delayed for a whole 2 months from the release date they had given us before. Instead of fixing that issue they put heartbeats as drops in sevral dungeons as a quick fix that didn't change the fact that they screwed something up and were not in any rush to fix it.

    Legally EME might be able to perform some development for the game, but recoding game parts isn't necessarily an easy task, it also costs money and time, and since EME had some layoffs in the past months I don't think they've been thinking of hiring more people... not anytime soon at least.

    Finally, the process is always the same with all of Tera's publisher: the publisher does the research, it gives BHS feedback, BHS codes the changes, the publisher get the patched version and releases it. EME might get money somewhere to build a whole new expansion for Tera but in the end they'll have to send it back to BHS for testing, debugging and approval.
  • CutechanCutechan ✭✭✭
    l0l at that whiteknight defending EME. What are you waiting for boyz, come to MT y'all.
  • Aw, I kinda got excited when Spacecats said hello in highwatch chat....Only to promote facebook ;-;
    78f3749d77.jpg
    ^ Excitement builds hoping It's something involving HW server :v
    4abeee6de3.jpg

    ^ Dies just as quick ;-;
  • edited July 2016
    Bluehole doesn't even run Tera anymore. They sold the rights to Nexon or some other company.
    No, only the Korean publisher changed from NHN to Nexon, but it has no impact on Bluehole. They still own and run TERA and create builds for all markets. Nothing has changed regarding ownership or maintenance of the game or its code.

    They have liscenced rights, which means they can do minor development for the health of the game as needed for their region. [...] [filtered], Enmasse could even say "we know KTera chose to not let out the Talent system for other regions because it had caused many problems at the start. However, now that they have developed and balanced it to a point we can copy what they currently have and add it here skipping several of the problems and bringing KTera and NA tera closer together in terms of gameplay. Will Enmasse do this? Probbaly not, that will require them to do more than just copy the cheat sheet for localization that Bluehole (and now Nexon) gives them.
    No, EME has no access to the client source code. All they can do is use the publisher tools and change the localization. Any development requests all go to BHS, and all builds are only built by them. There's no way to get the talent system unless BHS merges it into the build.

    (And besides, the talent system is not "balanced" the way it is right now; it's a fatally flawed system. People are looking to it because of a few specific elements that were "addressed" by it, but it doesn't make the game more balanced on the whole. You'd just be trading one set of problems for another even more severe one.)

    But anyway, the idea that EME can themselves make code adjustments to the game to address this issue (by adding new systems or changing existing systems) isn't possible. Every request outside of what's in the publisher domain (store, merchants, in-game events, etc.) goes up to the mothership and is scheduled/prioritized. I wouldn't count on that for any sort of short or even mid-term solution. If there's something that can be done soon, it will almost certainly be not related to the code.

    Honestly though, if something like that is too much for EME to handle then they should not be the liscence holder for NA Tera. They should either have another company that can support the game how it is needed colaborate with them or admit that they are not up to the task and sell it to someone else.
    FWIW, no other publisher can do it either. No one has that level of access to the client code; it's all managed by BHS.


    (This is in no way trying to suggest that nothing can be done, but just to help make more realistic suggestions for short-term actions, if anyone comes up with good ideas.)
This discussion has been closed.