Discussion Something to Consider...

Peter Goldbeard

Peter Goldbeard

Pirate Lord
I have been playing a lot recently since the game re-released. I've noticed that, especially with the newly added servers, the population of each server has been pretty low. It's only gone above 50 people a few times, and a couple of those may have been due to game events. This concerns me; I'll explain why:

One of the best things (actually, probably the best thing) about this game and about POTCO is/was the community and the sense of unity in the game. Everyone would work together to achieve things or to just have fun together, like in SVS or PVP. With the low number of people on each server, I've been finding it very difficult to get a bunch of people to join me in SVS or looting, or for any event with multiple people. I'm just suggesting ways to make this a little bit better so that people can have more fun with groups of pirates, rather than everyone wandering aimlessly around the Caribbean, bored out of their minds. Here's some things that I have thought of

  1. Decrease the number of servers so that more people are on each server. I'm not sure that everyone would want this, however, as it may cause a bit more lag (I'm honestly not sure if that's true or not). Also, the game couldn't hold as many people, although at the time it seems that it's rarely even close to its max capacity.
  2. Hold more events. I'm not talking about anything special where the GMs need to be there, just maybe something like "SVS hour" or "PVP hour": join other pirates for svs on andaba or pvp on Abassa at 8:00 every night! This would help to get more pirates together at times so they can have more fun.
  3. More playtimes (or beta keys). I'm not sure if this is feasible because it would increase the population of the game, which could be too much for the servers. However, there would be more people to interact with while you're playing.
These are just my thoughts! Please leave yours below, and let me know if any of these are possible or if you have a different suggestion to get more pirates together to play with!
 
The issue with decreasing the amount of servers is the looting spots. Some people prefer to loot alone and with spots such as the gold room and south idol, that won't be possible with less servers.
The game is still in semi open beta and is for testing, the servers will fill up once the game releases and doesn't have as many crashes and bugs.
 
I'm sure once, the server is more stable. Beta keys might be added back in the game which would be looted. Also, were still pretty much in the beta stage so increasing population is less of a concern. I'm sure when beta keys would no longer be required to play, TLOPO would have 100 - 200 players per server or more. :D Once all lagg/crash issues are resolved, pretty much anything could be worked on.
 
Another big problem I can think of is since we have most people playing off of reserving playtimes, people want to use that time wisely to level up their character (since after your play time is over, it may take another 3-4 hours to get back into the game). Also, if people have reserved times, SVS may be interrupted for them because of these play times. There's really not a set in stone way to solve this problem either.
 
Hey I keep picking bad times so i feel ya on having times where server is bad but the late night play i had last night after 2am and the playtime i had at 11 today worked great in game but website going down messed me up for sure. Game feels alot better just need to get back up and pluging in play times and get beta keys back in the game.
 
They're not going to decrease the amount of servers. They only recently added some in. Having more servers is good because it probably means more playtimes and better overall game stability, because you're not crowding people onto 1 server. Once the servers have shown that they can handle upwards of 100 people, I'm sure that more playtimes and beta keys will be put out and we will move closer to an open beta, at which point I'm quite sure that a lack of players won't be too much of a problem.
 
Dreadful said:
They're not going to decrease the amount of servers. They only recently added some in. Having more servers is good because it probably means more playtimes and better overall game stability, because you're not crowding people onto 1 server. Once the servers have shown that they can handle upwards of 100 people, I'm sure that more playtimes and beta keys will be put out and we will move closer to an open beta, at which point I'm quite sure that a lack of players won't be too much of a problem.
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Like I said, just suggestions, but all of them have their flaws. I guess now I do see the point that once the game is fully released, it will be more popular. I'm just worried, it's in my personality ;). I just want this game to be great. I'm sure it will! :D
 
What about making certain servers SVS servers, I mean let pirates know that these are the two servers to try for SVS. That way all pirates that want to SVS with many other pirates will know where to look, and if 10 pirates want to SVS, then they can find each other on the same server or two (if it gets busy). Same with PVP. :)
 
Peter Goldbeard said:
Decrease the number of servers so that more people are on each server. I'm not sure that everyone would want this, however, as it may cause a bit more lag (I'm honestly not sure if that's true or not). Also, the game couldn't hold as many people, although at the time it seems that it's rarely even close to its max capacity.
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The servers lineup is made in advance of Open Beta. While you provide valid concerns, please take into account that during week days people can be busy or they may not have enough time to log in and play. Along with the fact that some players might feel a bit better on low population servers it wouldn't really make of any sense to take away any oceans at this point.
 
Totally hear what you're saying! The things that bring people together are, imo, the best part of the game. But we have to be patient and remember we are testers now, not players. I am confident that a lot of it will be worked out as the game becomes more stable.

But in the meantime - we have choices! I often see one or two servers with significantly higher pop than the others - go for that one!. And we as community here can steer that, too. One server being known for SvS, for example. Use the message boards here to try and get people together!
 
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