Aggraphine

Fuhreak wrote: »

Roni777 wrote: »

In Reboot, This is what happened on 2x event around few months ago. We had 20 channels. on 2x event, 99% of the map in Arcana (which has over 20+ maps) are full on all 20 channels avaialble. Lachlein, also have majority of the maps full on all 20 channels. that is how crowded is Reboot. Some of the maps are really good. on 2x event, if you want to grab those best maps, you need to even keep /hold the map 1 day before with your friends. I would not just say Reboot as crowded. Possibly overcrowded. I know the population bar is not full. But once you play in it, it is pack with players. Even now with 30 channels avaialble, on normal days, you still see 25 out of 30 maps on best map still fill up with players nonstop.

Stop playing on the "meta maps" and you'll stop seeing people. I can go entire days without seeing anyone in arcane river just by grinding on maps that don't have a daily quest associated with them.

Basically all of the out-of-the-way or untouched maps, the ones where you frequently see elite bosses spawned on normal servers by bots. The former 360 arcane power maps in vanishing journey for one.

It's like I said in my prior post: everyone is so caught up in chasing efficiency in leveling speed, so beholden to the meta, that they stick to the same string of a dozen or so maps from level 1 all the way up to wherever they stop leveling. That's why you can channel surf and never find a free channel in forsaken excavation site 2, but you'll never see a soul in forsaken excavation sites 1, 3 and 4.

JushiroNet wrote: »

That's kind of the point. Balancing the overloaded worlds with the smaller worlds.

The era of this game, this service at least, requiring almost 20 different worlds is long over. They can prune the server list down to three or four, not counting reboot.

JushiroNet wrote: »

We need one way transfers from high to low pop servers.

OR

Additional alliances. Maybe combine grazed, bacon, and broni.

One-way transfers from high-pop to low-pop is going to help nothing but to further scatter the playerbase, and world alliances are a dead horse that needs no further beating. Look at the three world alliances that already exist, two of them are comprised of six worlds each yet those are among the most barren and lifeless of all the worlds. That does not scream "success" to me.

What is needed is full server merges. No alliances, no transfer event periods where you have to choose between leaving behind a dead world, or your storage space and monster collection progress. Actual, full server merges, and nothing less.

Overwatch is still pretty predatory about it. They give you a paltry few standard loot boxes through normal gameplay and have special/different loot boxes for event-limited legendary skins and the like. It may not affect gameplay but it sure as hell preys on people who are susceptible to gambling problems.

You don't have to have pay-to-win items in a loot box to be predatory in your practice and I wish more people actually understood that.

Fuhreak wrote: »

Aggraphine wrote: »

What "top ranked games" are you referring to? Because a lot of the top-ranked games that I can think of off the top of my head still sell loot boxes in one form or another. Overwatch, League, Fortnite, PUBG, CS:GO; they all sell loot boxes full of cosmetics.

Loot boxes were a mistake. Developers noticed that they could grab some cash fast with it, but eventually it will come back to bite them in the ass.
Just like how a lot of gamers instantly get turned off by the phrase "DLC" now-a-days.
Running an MMO is an expensive endeavor, I'm not sure I place pay to win on the same level as loot boxes. Honestly I'd say it's far worse.
Gambling has a real addiction aspect to it that can destroy lives. I don't think too many people are having that issue over cosmetic items from loot boxes.
I can't think of any widely successful MMO that didn't use gambling or subscription methods to stay afloat.
Though I'd love to be enlightened by any that do exist.

DLC used to actually be additional content. Now it's basically just all the crap they cut from the game to make a ship date. Look at, since it's the only thing I can think of on a moment's notice, Borderlands. The first and second games both have a handful of DLC options. They're decently inexpensive and add entire wholly new content areas(Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, for starts, as well as The Secret Armory of General Knoxx). There are two, for Borderlands 2, that are simply level-cap increases, but they're like $5 each and the second one adds both a level cap increase as well as a whole new tier of weapons and an endgame raid thing.

Put simply, this is why the notion of DLC, especially day-one DLC, leaves such a sour taste in most peoples' mouths nowadays.