So how are player numbers holding up?
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Oh i know about the lull it happens every year i asked because i had been told from another player that they spent 3 hours online in the euro timezone and saw maybe five players log on then straight back off because there was only them online.
A lull happens around this time each year it generally halves the player numbers for several weeks and alot of players scream doom and gloom.
This year im being told it's dropping to 0-2 off peek and 1-4 at peek times for the euro time zones so at peek times pre lull the server had around 8-10 players that play on a regular basis in euro times zones? -
Euro time zones has always been relatively low numbers, and there is a habit if there are few people on for players to immediately log off, yes. If people stuck around then other people would be encouraged to stick around more. Becomes a self fulfilling prophecy when it happens.
There has been a suggestion to increase the number of solo and two-man quests since even acquiring a third character can sometimes be difficult.
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@Amy:
Oh i know about the lull it happens every year i asked because i had been told from another player that they spent 3 hours online in the euro timezone and saw maybe five players log on then straight back off because there was only them online.
A lull happens around this time each year it generally halves the player numbers for several weeks and alot of players scream doom and gloom.
This year im being told it's dropping to 0-2 off peek and 1-4 at peek times for the euro time zones so at peek times pre lull the server had around 8-10 players that play on a regular basis in euro times zones?Nah, I would say 2-4 off peak and 6-12 at peak. It is low, yes, what I see as a good remedy is what Spiffy did yesterday - announcing he will be running an event when/if people log in. That event can further plots or give more plot hooks, interesting loot with the potential to create conflict and help in personal plots of multiple players when spent, or information about spell alteration reagents. WINK WINK
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@Eraamion:
Yes, numbers are definitely down compared to two months ago. People are talking about the reasons; to me personally there simply isn't enough interesting stuff going IG to make it worthy logging in and staying around. A few mechanical changes like resetting the spell alterations made playing concepts that depended on them boring. Not enough DMs to create/push plots through events and NPC possessions is also a big detriment, esp. on a server with generally low player numbers you cannot expect players themselves to create enough content to keep themselves entertained and CoA has always been more about DM presence than other servers like EfU or Arelith.
Anyway, I agree this is seasonal lull and these discussions occur repeatedly.
I'd echo this as well except that I think with a ew tweaks to the system and a mature player base willing to do those things (and just as important, participate in those things done by other players) you could see an increase in numbers. But every time this gets brought up or mentioned, it doesn't go anywhere. People like the comfort of the familiar, it's just human nature.
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In some ways some more Dmless activities would go a long way to help things, as well as broader scope for questing with low numbers.
Faction quests which can be activated by members of a faction for other players to help them acquire X token which in turn gets used for acquiring tools or showing progress but something they can't do themselves. These quests need not be long, difficult or involved, they could use existing areas.
If there was scripting time available starting development on Dmless quest would also work, doesn't need to be done all at once.
Back to factions again, give senior members of a faction tools to set up activities or minor things. Chaos brigade could trigger thugs in old town, Scriptorium could trigger spawning of a bit of lore, Tammarast could trigger a specific creature. Militia/Pds could get barricades to blockade parts. Little actions that change the setup could then be opposed or supported by players.
When you give players tools to create stories or ideas you lessen the need for dms, which gives them more time, brings more people online and so on.
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Your so right sith… I wanna do ALL of those things, and dearly with I had more time.
We are always looking for new dms though, it isn't a simple process though, as it's an all or nothing situation, so there is a lot to consider.
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Could we adapt or update the current hunting board system to work for factions? Faction rewards and story progression relative to the amount of effort each faction puts into gathering people to turn in items from said board? Seeing HQ's get updated every time a faction won the hunting board was pretty cool.