Server Selection (Prelude)

[Soren Miren]

What if we end up with 1' date='000+ RPers by the time the game launches? Again, this is -highly- unlikely but I'd rather be prepared just in case. I'm pretty sure Aion's RP community didn't see that many coming but that's how many they ended up getting after their population explosion. At that point, it might be best to start looking into designating two separate RP servers. You have to figure after considering the Japanese population and non-RP population, that's a huge number to fit onto a single server.[/quote']

 

Honestly I'd rather avoid declaring multiple servers. Is 1k a lot? Sure, if they were all online at the same time, but after figuring in actual active hours, how many people stick with the game long-term, etc., the number becomes pretty miniscule. Even with as many people as Aion's RP community had, Lumiel didn't suffer from the population explosion outside of a few server lockouts for the first few hours.

 

The worst thing we could do is divide the community early and spread an already rare breed of gamer even thinner. Our goal should be to create the strongest, most solid roleplaying community possible from the outset, regardless of the "what-ifs".

[Seraphine Felstar]

Since I have very little to do at the moment I went ahead and posted a thread covering the "What If's?" we've discussed. I also put up a poll to make sure everything we discussed in this thread up to this point is agreed upon. If you have any further concerns about server selection please continue to post here. However, if you are posing a "What if?" scenario please post it in the new thread. Thank you ^^

[Aveline]

Well with the "what if?" about the potential 1k+ RPers... keep in mind that no matter how we get people over to a server, world passes or whatnot, every server is going to have a population cap, and if one world gets too full they will in all likelihood close that server to new players.

 

If you guys recall, they had to do server juggling in FFXI, and new worlds were brought online where people were randomly tossed on to in order to balance world load. So if we try to cram 1,000+ people onto one world that other non-RPers are also trying to get onto, we may end up being split no matter what. Just a thought.

[Faust]

I agree with Soren. If for some reason we can't get everyone on one server, have a backup server declared, but make it clear that it's the spill-over server, not necessarily an RP server.

[Smiling River]

Worst case scenario: We start a vote on the server Sept 22 - Sept 30

I plan on getting the special edition, and I'll play on the first day but I wont mind deleting the character and re-rolling a day or two later. It's not like I will lose anything significant >_>; So even if we vote after the game comes out, people can still play, just keep in mind that you might have to delete and re-roll.

[Faust]

Personally I don't really even care about RP in the beta. The people that I want to play with aren't in the beta. I really don't even want to spoil the game for myself by investing a bunch of playtime into the beta either. I may be the only person who is primarily there just to offer feedback.

[Shamadconde]

If I get an invite that will be my main goal. I want this game to be a WoW killer. I give it a 5% chance but isn't 0. The best way is to give all the feedback possible.

[Aveline]

I may be the only person who is primarily there just to offer feedback.

 

I'm sure a lot of testers are there to provide feedback.. So far I definitely haven't heard of anyone being there just to RP. I don't know why anyone would want in to the beta for that. >_>

[ArmachiA]

I really won't be there to rp, maybe mingle a bit, but mostly to report bugs. I did the same in Aion, didn't touch RP till launch, just looked at the lore and looked for bugs while in Beta

[Guest]

So im thinking a few things.

 

1. If beta gets server selection sometime, then a vote for server on Sept 10-15.

2a. If beta gets no server selection and server selection at launch, then:

No vote. Designate somebody getting Ultimate Edition and have them pick on Sept 22 and post it here.

2b. If beta gets no server selection and server selection at launch, then:

No vote. Designate random server (5th down alphabetically, First starting w/ L, ect. ect.).

 

I'm saying no votes because that will take time to conduct. And I don't know about anyone else, but I will want to be playing the game and not wanting to have to reroll my character. Anyways, we could have a vote on the method we wish to elicit. How bout say Aug 20-30, and then make a sticky which will let us all know how we're going to do this.

 

Edit: And 1k rpers spread across the world really doesn't seem like that many. The servers should be able to handle it . (Est: 5-10k ppl in at one time)

[Shamadconde]

If there is going to be a vote on the server, what happened on ARP needs to be avoided. People were making sock puppets to sway the vote. Also the poll results should be hidden during the polling period so as to avoid the problem of people voting what is seen as the most popular selection instead of........Ummm....Those from ARP, HELP! I'm a little foggy as to what happened there and I need your brains.

[Soren Miren]

If there is going to be a vote on the server' date=' what happened on ARP needs to be avoided. People were making sock puppets to sway the vote. Also the poll results should be hidden during the polling period so as to avoid the problem of people voting what is seen as the most popular selection instead of........Ummm....Those from ARP, HELP! I'm a little foggy as to what happened there and I need your brains.[/quote']

 

The community ended up being divided between those who wanted to stake out an unofficial RP server and those who wanted to build the unofficial RP server on the unofficial "hardcore competitive pvp" server for the sake of higher population. Add in multiple polls and NCsoft trying to throw in a poll of their own after the fact and the entire community became a warzone.

 

I'll agree that if we want to avoid that problem, we need to make a poll with hidden results until it concludes. If we can prevent people from rolling multiple accounts, that's great as well. I think Averis disabled new registrations during the poll period, which was unfortunate but necessary.

 

Keep in mind though, as I mentioned in the 'What-ifs' thread, there's much less need for people to try and stake out a special-interest server in an international and PvE-focused game. I'd hope that we don't have people fearmongering about server populations and the need for a competitive environment when the game lacks any such form of competition, but there's no guarantee for that, so I'll second the suggestion to hide the poll results (its just a good practice in general), but maybe we don't need to worry so much about shutting off new registrations in this case.

[Shamadconde]

I'm just paranoid. That's all.

[Soren Miren]

I don't blame you for it, hehe. The ARP situation was pretty toxic.

[Smiling River]

I've never thought of it, but having one person pick the server isn't a bad idea. Assuming we wont get the confirmed list of servers prior to the game's launch.

[Shamadconde]

Dämmerung didn't help matters. I really hope there isn't the sheer number of elitists in XIV that there were in Aion.

[Soren Miren]

I'll refrain from commenting on any specific player(s) from the Aion community, but I do think its important to recognize that subversive behaviors can come from anyone, even those with the popular interest at heart, to sway things such as these.

 

Aside from the previously suggested measures, it may also be prudent to discuss what kind of vote we will have well in advance of actually having said vote. As a community site I think ARP was obligated to open the poll to every individual. If this site is specifically devoted to the coalition as an organization and individuals who wish to associate with the coalition, then we have the option of reserving voting rights to representatives of affiliated guilds. Given that the requirements to have a seat on the RPC aren't necessarily subjective, I don't think its unfair to go this route.

 

Those who choose a guild/linkshell/company before launch already have their representation in the coalition. If individual guilds like, they can hold their own private polls on their websites/forums in advance of the coalition poll, and vote for the winner of their individual poll.

 

I'm expecting someone will bring up the ethics involved in not acknowledging the freelancers for such a poll. For the sake of not critting anyone with a wall o'text, I'll just keep off that subject until that time >.>

[Shamadconde]

I'll resist the urge to be the one to open that particular can of land worms.

[Aveline]

I like the idea of voting between council representatives, due to the obvious benefits of saving a lot of time in the voting process, and making things relatively easier to deal with.

 

Regarding the freelancers, I'm curious to hear from some of them as to how they would want this handled. I'm honestly at a loss, since we are a coalition of roleplaying groups and to give each group 2 voices but then all people undeclared from a group their own vote seems kind of unbalanced.

[Soren Miren]

I'll second wanting to hear the opinion of a "declared freelancer" on the subject.

 

Would it truly be so imbalanced if, for example, each guild represented in the Coalition was given 1 vote (as in per guild, rather than per representative), and freelancers were given a poll, the results of which would count as a freelance vote to be tallied alongside those of the guilds? This way everyone still technically has a voice, but it still greatly reduces the time involved in polling and the potential drama.

[Faust]

My opinion as a freelancer:

 

Don't worry about it overmuch. A server is a server-- pick one and be done with it. I see no real need to vote or deliberate on the matter, and don't care to be involved in the process one way or the other. If left to me, I would just pick whichever server name I liked the best.

[Guest]

I will most likely be starting out freelance and then somehow try to make my way towards AETHER. As for the voting, I could care less as long as it gets done in a timely manner so that we are ready on day one. Though I should be joining on day eight since I'm going the cheaper route.

If we go the route of one vote per guild and one for the freelancers then we should have a total of 11. Personally, I would vote for 2a or 2b as I proposed on pg 6. With the person of 2a being a member of the council, starting on day one and voted on by their peers. (other council members)

[Siben]

RELAX. ;D

[Shamadconde]

:cheer:

[Zane]

I'm a freelance RPer, and I can almost guarantee unless I get to cast my vote, there is a very good chance I won't be playing on the same server as the rest of you unless you happen to pick the server I'm going to by sheer dumb luck.

 

I'm not going to let my group get scattered to the winds due to a delayed response in mobilizing by waiting for the server selection outcome. That is just not an option. The best I can do is cast my vote and hope that's what wins. I mean don't get me wrong, I have no illusions that just because I said I'm going to X server the RPC will go to X server. But I'd like to at least feel like I had some say regardless of the outcome.