Server unification

[revblack]

http://www.ryzom.com/news/archive/2006/10/04/cho-is-coming

Trading within the Ring is under review to better fit the experience we want players to have within the Ryzom universe. So, in the meantime, trading within a Ring adventure will be working as follows:

o Characters from the same homeland can exchange/trade any items;

o Characters from different homeland can only trade "plot items", which are Ring specific.

Hurrah!

I figured they'd do this. Sounds like a fair and equitable solution IMO. It still allows people to run their Ring businesses (ie. crafting shops), but doesn't adversely affect the other servers.

I'm still wondering ... How many people here are actually going to re-roll on Cho? I'm betting it'll be mostly newbies, with the odd semi/very experienced player joining.

What's everyone else's guess?

[rothimar]

Hard to say... I'm relatively new, so I haven't made enough enemies to consider moving due to strife, so I am planning stay put. I might create an alt over there simply to see how populated the new server gets.

I think it's too early to tell how many new players will join over there, it all depends on what sort of marketing Nevrax does for R²... heck, Ryzom in general. I don't think a new server will kill the population of Arispotle that much, some new players will go to Cho to start fresh, some will come to Arispotle for the relative stability of an established server. Hopefully, there will be enough incoming subscriptions to keep both servers moving along well.

Not sure how OP ownership would work if they had to merge servers down the road.

I'm still wondering ... How many people here are actually going to re-roll on Cho? I'm betting it'll be mostly newbies, with the odd semi/very experienced player joining.

What's everyone else's guess?

[iphdrunk]

What's everyone else's guess?

My guess? at the beginning I think a large portion of new players may go for the new shard ( I know I would ), depending on how the new shard is Marketed, plus some old-timers willing to re-discover ( I know I wouldn't ). This may have an impact on the population of Arispotle, getting a bit older. This also may affect some recent players / guilds who may hesitate to re-roll so they can make a bigger impact on a fresh shard.

I guess, at some point, things will balance out.

Another (related) issue, is the apparent lack of capacity of current shards. I mean, empirically, Arispotle may have no more than 800-1000 players simultaneously (and that's being generous imho). The shards were supposedly dimensioned (pre-ring) to have thousands of players. Is the ring so heavy on processing? did the cost reduction affect the hardware? is the shard-reunification implying that there are "virtual shards" on top of a same server?. If Arispotle is rather full, meaning that a new shard is needed, will it be packed / same load after a similar number of subscribers create toons on the new Cho with around 800 simultaneous new players?. Does Nevrax expect such a massive influx of new players requiring opening a new shard now, rather than later when it becomes necessary? (not a bad thing, tho)... Lots of questions.....

[revblack]

Another (related) issue, is the apparent lack of capacity of current shards. I mean, empirically, Arispotle may have no more than 800-1000 players simultaneously (and that's being generous imho). The shards were supposedly dimensioned (pre-ring) to have thousands of players. Is the ring so heavy on processing? did the cost reduction affect the hardware? is the shard-reunification implying that there are "virtual shards" on top of a same server?. If Arispotle is rather full, meaning that a new shard is needed, will it be packed / same load after a similar number of subscribers create toons on the new Cho with around 800 simultaneous new players?. Does Nevrax expect such a massive influx of new players requiring opening a new shard now, rather than later when it becomes necessary? (not a bad thing, tho)... Lots of questions.....

Perhaps they changed the hardware at some point, and/or adjusted hosting options with Jolt and thus the servers maximum capacities are much lower?

I'm not sure, just speculating here. But it does seem odd since Arispotle hasn't seemed adversely affected by all the new players in Silan and on the mainland.

[oldmess]

New players will swarm to it. They will grow and prosper, and that is fine.
Older players will be in Aris. We will age and dwindle...that is not so fine.

At first, when I read this, I thought: "Wow, he's more cynical that I am". But there is a real concern here.

As PF's recruiting officer often says: "if we're not growing, we're dying". Arispotle needs newbies just as much as Cho does (well not as many during the short term, but definitely over the long term).

Or, do we have the opposite problem? Will newbs learn than Cho is much more empty than Arispotle and avoid it?

The Catch-22 is this: If Cho doesn't get the lion's share of newbs in the short term, it'll die. But, if it gets the lion's of newbs in the long term, Arispotle will wither and die. That's one advantage to having the numbers that WoW has; adding one more server is a ripple in the pond for them. For us, we just doubled the number of English speaking servers.

(disclaimer: some regard the word "newb" as negative; I use it here only as shorthand for "new player" and have no negative attitude attached to it)

[rothimar]

The Catch-22 is this: If Cho doesn't get the lion's share of newbs in the short term, it'll die. But, if it gets the lion's of newbs in the long term, Arispotle will wither and die. That's one advantage to having the numbers that WoW has; adding one more server is a ripple in the pond for them. For us, we just doubled the number of English speaking servers.

This is a good point to ponder, and as time moves on, I am hoping to see a massive effort to attract new players. Press releases, maybe some advertising, etc etc. Might be a good idea for those interested to start doing some write-ups and getting them out there.

(disclaimer: some regard the word "newb" as negative; I use it here only as shorthand for "new player" and have no negative attitude attached to it)

I usually make a distinction between "newb" and "noob", the latter being someone who should know better and doesn't, the former being someone who is simply inexperienced.

"He's a newb, so take it easy on him." as opposed to "What a flippin' noob, how many times does he have to do that before he realizes he's being an idiot??"

[ajsuk]

Lots of factors and possibilities...

Just to throw another in...

If the magical balance doesn't happen as we'd all like they might have to end up locking one shard to new subbers which will be laaame when after a month of trying your friend decides he wants to join in with you and he's not allowed...

Not that we're anywhere near that stage yet if you ask me. As Oud says, I think it could all fall apart. Aris has plenty of room still.

[grimjim]

Perhaps they changed the hardware at some point, and/or adjusted hosting options with Jolt and thus the servers maximum capacities are much lower?

I'm not sure, just speculating here. But it does seem odd since Arispotle hasn't seemed adversely affected by all the new players in Silan and on the mainland.

Unless that is the cause, Silan I mean.
Free Trial n'all.

[totnkopf]

... how the new shard is Marketed...

You know as well as I do, Ani, that Nevrax doesn't believe in marketing (in any shape or form. From booth hidden in the back at E3 (Raynes can tell you all about it) to Ring barely getting a mention in gaming mags (in the US at least)). I realize they don't have a ton of cash, but theres no point in making a product if no one is going to hear about it or even know it exists.

Does Nevrax expect such a massive influx of new players requiring opening a new shard now, rather than later when it becomes necessary? (not a bad thing, tho)... Lots of questions.....

I had this thought to, and several others that others have brought up. It would seem to me that if they truly believed there would be a mad influx of players that they would have waited for it to happen to actually open another server (sort of the WoW method... "oop... they're all fullish... open 6 more").
I was also worried about the newer populations going to the new server and the attrition effect it'd have on Arispotle. Aris is much emptier that it was a year ago so they should still retain the ability to have many more people on the shard without them becoming laggy. I'm just hoping that its not Nevrax gambling as its financial review comes closer. "We'll open a new server... f we get a massive influx of players, great, we're back in business. If not, oh well, we're declared bankrupt"

As for the whole cross server trading, I think they should have limited it to crafted items. No mats, cats, OP stuff, etc. Just straight up crafted items.