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HighWatch server activities
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
The problem, such as it is, was acknowledged:
The problem isn't an issue with plain/raw numbers that would be solved by a merge. It's a problem with the composition of the players, the amount of players joining guilds focused on end-game content, and that some people aren't able to find groups for the hardest dungeons because they feel the population of dedicated/skilled end-game players isn't there. And there is no magic solution to this problem, as has been discussed at length at this thread, particularly given that skilled players often just transfer off to TR/MT, further draining the "talent pool."
The problem has been acknowledged, but there's no visible path to resolve the concern. I've been thinking about this problem as well, for whatever little it's worth, and the best solution I've come up with would unfortunately require BHS to program things, so is probably out of the question.
i'm sick of b i t c h i n g about this with no one giving a solution besides having the game rescripted
Once I had leveled a few characters to 65, I started to feel like the game had become very stagnant. Honestly, HW feels like a solo server at times. I had joined and left more guilds than I can count due to lack of activity, lack of groups running content together, global and area chats being ghost towns, very few LFGs... I am a social gamer, and to keep the game interesting and enjoyable, I need to have people to play with. That's why I eventually left for CH, where I have 4 characters now, and 2 more waiting to be transferred over from HW. The climate is better, people are active, (mostly) friendly and helpful, and I found a few guilds that I love dearly. I'm enjoying the game much more on CH and it feels more rewarding when you have people to help you through endgame content. It really feels like a different game.
Now, this topic started as a concern that the numbers on HW aren't high enough, which Spacecats has assured isn't true. Now the discussion is quality over quantity. However, this is NOT something EME or even BHS can help us with. Even if they merge servers, that is not necessarily going to change the "quality" of the players.
I think the underlying problem here is that there isn't a good balance of new and experienced players. When the older players who are seeking endgame content find that there's nothing for them on HW, they leave or stop playing. It's that instant gratification mindset, and I'm no different. This means that there is NOBODY to help new players get accustomed to the game, nobody to answer questions, nobody to run content with, etc. This causes what people are referring to as a "less than quality" playerbase, and yet, nobody is sticking around to fix it. Again, this is not something a server merge will fix, it needs to come from the people, especially the older players. The original servers already have established experienced players because they've been around longer, but HW is just over a year old, and hasn't had time to develop that--and it never will, because the experienced players are leaving or quitting. As a new player, I wasn't very talkative, in part because nobody else was, but also because I felt so new I didn't know what to say. Even though there's a decent amount of players on HW, they aren't very communicative, which also hurts the community.
What needs to happen is something a la the player council for HW specifically. More experienced users need to band together and create guilds so they can help train and produce other quality, experienced players. They need to encourage events, not tolerate drama, and try to help stabilize the market. These are not things new players know how to do, and they need help from older players to get there.
If people can't do this, another option is to have something in the game (perhaps the first time you launch it after download) explaining what the servers are like and warning players to choose wisely. Or, alternatively, make HW a training server which people can then transfer from when they reach 65 (for a lower cost maybe).
Anyway, that's my two cents.
As is stands this thread has gotten pretty off-topic from its original discussion, which is based on the notion of Highwatch having a lower population than other servers (I'm not going to get into server population details, but please see my previous comment about player numbers being extremely similar to other servers which don't share these complaints). The discussion has also gotten hostile to the point where multiple posts have needed moderation. For those reasons (and because the topic has been thoroughly addressed) I'm going to close the thread.
The number of posts here show there are clearly a LOT of people who are on Highwatch (or were recently) looking for dungeons and consistent groups. I know this isn't 100% realistic here but think about this - if everybody who engaged with this thread formed a guild, we'd be looking at an active group of at least what... 100-150 people looking for dungeon groups? Maybe more? (There are 209 replies and 9.8K views so I'm definitely guestimating, but it's a lot of people looking for PvE action). Use the forums to coordinate if you're not able to find groups in-game for some reason. Like Starbuzz said it's a community forum, and you've got fellow community members that are willing to group up.