Server Cap or Merge Servers

[Jabark 2]

Yes, that could work, but that's the point. Elysium is a volunteer project. Items that are low on the MoSCoW rating such as "could's" just aren't going to be prioritised.

[Kiu 0]

I have a very simple suggestion that I think would solve the issues of Anathema and Darrowshire.

• Wait for AQ to come out on Darrowshire, advance the release, or release it immediately if necessary. The Darrowshire folks deserve to see a proper AQ gate opening event.
• Merge Anathema and Darrowshire. Now here's the sauce - make modifications to the core whereby each character is permanently either a PvE or PvP character. PvE players will still be free to play without interruption from unwanted PvP activity. PvP players will still have the same number of other PvP flagged players as they had on Anathema to interact with.
• Allow transfers from Elysium to the new server.

Based on Saturday's numbers, the new server would have 3.2K players, double the current amount, which is a very healthy level.

There are some flaws here but I think this is a much better solution than bringing hundreds (thousands?) of over-geared and/or modified characters to Elysium, which is already very highly (perhaps too highly) populated.

[SchfiftyFive 5]

1 hour ago, Kiu said:

There are some flaws here but I think this is a much better solution than bringing hundreds (thousands?) of over-geared and/or modified characters to Elysium, which is already very highly (perhaps too highly) populated.

I also personally believe this idea is terrible and a lot of unnecessary work. We all know elysium pvp and anathema are eventually going to merge, for me the perfect time to do that would be when both are on the same progression. 

Untill then open transfers from elysium to darrowshire and anathema. There are people that want to do aq40 or emerald dragons or whatever, now and not wait for months. There are people that chose pvp by mistake and might rather do pve. It may not be thousands of people but it would be a small influx of players and that might be enough. Even if doesn't work out in the end and only a handful of people end up moving, they did so knowing there was a risk and also the extra workload impact for a possible future merge or transfer will be minimal.

I'm very much against force feeding elysium pvp or even darrowshire progression down anathemas throat, disabling items and so on and so forth. There will be a lot of angry people if you do this. And while I do understand there are no solutions where everyone is left happy I feel opening elysium overflow onto the other servers is the least hurtful all around.

6 hours ago, Phoosy said:

and the Project continues to provide a home for Nostalrius's legacy that we have to desperately pander to.

massively arrogant comment

also announce tbc ples

 

 

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, SchfiftyFive said:

also announce tbc ples

If stating the truth makes me arrogant, I don't wish to see what makes me modest. The Project by existence has to cater to the old Nostalrius crowd as that's a large part of the reason why the Project got the world's attention when it relaunched and took in the "refugees" so to speak. The project is constantly hounded and haunted by Nost's legacy in large part due to this and would be hard pressed to make changes that may spite any percentage of this section of the population without some form of community backlash for that very reason. Your very comment alone proves my point: you took a statement about the reality of Elysium hosting the former Nostalrius players as an attack on those players rather than accepting the Project is forced to hold up a different Project's legacy in one hand while holding their own fresh start community in another and is somehow expected to cater to two entirely different demographics.

[Shiamorah 20]

While you are correct that issues would arise by them not being on the same patch, the only alternative is to just leave Anathema alone until Elysium catches up... So the only alternative here is to do absolutely nothing, and by the point Elysium catches up, it will most likely already be dead.

[Keala 28]

8 hours ago, Shiamorah said:

While you are correct that issues would arise by them not being on the same patch, the only alternative is to just leave Anathema alone until Elysium catches up... So the only alternative here is to do absolutely nothing, and by the point Elysium catches up, it will most likely already be dead.

I fully agree on this. Anathema can't wait that much time, it'll just get shutdown due to extremely low population before any kind of merge or transfer is made possible.

However, this is only the case where the staff does not say a single word. Their silence on this stance is what bothers me most. In fact, I'm fairly sure Anathema would be able to wait that much time and not die out until a merge/transfer if they communicated their intentions with us. I, for one, wouldn't think of stopping to play on Anathema at any point if I was given assurance that it would actually get merged in the future. On the other hand, that is something which I might consider to do if they don't say anything.

There is also another option but I'm fairly sure no one suggested it cause they (just like me) think it's stupid: merge Elysium into Anathema (I don't like this either, but since we're here, might aswell consider everything).

[FEYAARES 3]

If they wait more Anathema will die for sure that's right. 

I think @Kiu has a really good idea with merging Daro and Anathema.
I don't know if a transfer from Elysium will be really usefull because if we the new server will go around 3k and more it will start to grow up again.

[SchfiftyFive 5]

11 hours ago, Phoosy said:

If stating the truth makes me arrogant, I don't wish to see what makes me modest.......

there are very few times where i will not interpret pandering as a negative. as for the 2 communities, they are imo 100% intertwined. and with that said, paying some homage to your roots? is that too much to ask?

after posting a few comments on the subject and reading others, maybe it is best just to let anathema/darrow run it's course. however i do struggle to see the issue with opening elysium transfers to the older realms as a bandaid solution? you get to say 'well we tried something, didn't work. maybe merging and downgrading is the only solution to prevent the remaining 3.5-4000 raidloggers also quit.'

[dequecojonesvais 2]

As all threads people focus more in fire and trolling other members than find a real solution to population problems in Anathema and Darrowshire.

[FEYAARES 3]

@dequecojonesvais Same on every topic like this...

But I think this is pretty interesting : 

17 hours ago, Kiu said:

I have a very simple suggestion that I think would solve the issues of Anathema and Darrowshire.

• Wait for AQ to come out on Darrowshire, advance the release, or release it immediately if necessary. The Darrowshire folks deserve to see a proper AQ gate opening event.
• Merge Anathema and Darrowshire. Now here's the sauce - make modifications to the core whereby each character is permanently either a PvE or PvP character. PvE players will still be free to play without interruption from unwanted PvP activity. PvP players will still have the same number of other PvP flagged players as they had on Anathema to interact with.
• Allow transfers from Elysium to the new server.

Based on Saturday's numbers, the new server would have 3.2K players, double the current amount, which is a very healthy level.

There are some flaws here but I think this is a much better solution than bringing hundreds (thousands?) of over-geared and/or modified characters to Elysium, which is already very highly (perhaps too highly) populated.

 

[Banezilla 2]

It's a dead horse, just stop. A merge at this point would do more harm than good.

[Keala 28]

Yes, we know you don't care about what happens to Anathema like any other typical Elysium player, but that doesn't mean this is not worth talking about. There have been some cool suggestions on how to fix the problem and all we really need is the staff to communicate with us. Just because you aren't the one that has to deal with a bleeding server does not mean it has no meaning and shouldn't be addressed, the world doesn't revolve around single individuals.

[Shiamorah 20]

5 minutes ago, Keala said:

Yes, we know you don't care about what happens to Anathema like any other typical Elysium player, but that doesn't mean this is not worth talking about. There have been some cool suggestions on how to fix the problem and all we really need is the staff to communicate with us. Just because you aren't the one that has to deal with a bleeding server does not mean it has no meaning and shouldn't be addressed, the world doesn't revolve around single individuals.

It is easy to see that any solution possible is going to result in upset players, there is no winning solution. Because of this, it is best to ignore players that choose to side with an obvious extreme bias where they only care about themselves. They are not thinking about the project as a whole, only how it affects them personally. If Elysium was facing the same issues as the other servers, they would be the ones crying out.

If the only possibility is to merge servers, then they will need to speed up patch releases on Elysium for it to be practical. The absolute worst thing they can do as a project is show that they don't not care about these issues until it is past the point of return. 

The simple and honest truth is that Elysium operates on a very optimistic perspective, and a lot of the time does not evaluate worst case scenarios, and usually is only reactive instead of proactive. 

Merging servers will look bad because they create a disparity in time and gear earned amongst the playerbase. Allowing the server to die without any transfers will look bad because they actively alienate and abandon their playerbase.

No matter what decision is made, it will not be perfect. This is why I suggested influencing the flow of new players to areas they are most needed.

[Keala 28]

Once again I completely agree with what you just said, most of the options will indeed result in upset players, be it one side or another. Because of this, the aim here is to probably find the solution where the least number of players get upset, which is going to be relatively high with any current option.

As I said already, I really think that all we need is the staff to communicate with us about this problem some more. If their plan is to actually merge Anathema and Elysium as soon as they are on the same content patch, then it needs to be said. There is a difference between "playing without knowing what will happen to my server" and "playing while waiting for the servers to be merged, just like they announced". Am I being optimistic too by thinking that most players will actually continue playing (and also stop the bleeding process in the meantime) on Anathema if this were to be the case?

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Keala said:

Am I being optimistic too by thinking that most players will actually continue playing (and also stop the bleeding process in the meantime) on Anathema if this were to be the case?

People don't magically come back to make the pop stable or better if they have that knowledge in hand. The few that would won't make up a noticeable difference in my honest opinion.

[Keala 28]

I think you missed my point there. I am not trying to make Anathema's population higher or save Anathema at all, it's beyond saving. What I'm trying to achieve here is simply giving the few players left on Anathema a reason to keep on playing.

The population has decreased to a point where the gameplay has been affected negatively and there is no going back from here. It's only going to get worse, and I think we can both agree on this. Now, my point is that by announcing a future merge between Elysium and Anathema as soon as they are in the same content patch, it won't make the players think they're wasting their time by playing on Anathema. Most of them will just keep on playing and wait till the merge day happens.

On the other hand, if the staff doesn't say anything (or even worse, if they say they will not merge them ever), the bleeding will just continue until Anathema dies completely.

If there are any flaws in my thinking then please enlighten me about them.

[ProMeTheus112 1]

you could poll all players to make a decision :O I play on Elysium, I don't think I would mind a cap, but I dunno

I wouldnt say its exactly overpopulated, though the most populated areas may feel a bit like that. But the experience overall is rly good (although too much wreackage prob at low levels like 20-35, also a few grinding places are heavily grinded mobs spawning and dying nearly like factory haha). My main is @lvl45 now, if I go to Stranglethorn I can defend myself and I can attack, its just harder to get a fight to involve only 1 opponent or no ally.. but you can be careful and some areas are less or more crowded.. If I go to Feralas I have open garden playground of great solo wild pvp it seems :O

[Shiamorah 20]

18 minutes ago, ProMeTheus112 said:

you could poll all players to make a decision :O I play on Elysium, I don't think I would mind a cap, but I dunno

I wouldnt say its exactly overpopulated, though the most populated areas may feel a bit like that. But the experience overall is rly good (although too much wreackage prob at low levels like 20-35, also a few grinding places are heavily grinded mobs spawning and dying nearly like factory haha). My main is @lvl45 now, if I go to Stranglethorn I can defend myself and I can attack, its just harder to get a fight to involve only 1 opponent or no ally.. but you can be careful and some areas are less or more crowded.. If I go to Feralas I have open garden playground of great solo wild pvp it seems :O

While I know your suggestion comes from an honest place, a poll just wouldn't work out. No matter what, there is going to be a side that does not benefit from a change whatsoever, and will vote against it.

[quasexort 4]

I think the easiest solution is to just accelerate Elysium and merge when Anathema and Elysium are on the same patch.  Right now Elysium is basically only 2 patches behind Anathema since patch 1.8/1.10 don’t really do that much.  I don’t really see the downside of progressing Elysium to 1.8 by the end of this month since ZG is so easy that even an MC progressing guild could do it and world dragons only affect <1% of the population.  After 1.8 is released they could think about when they want to start the war effort.  Maybe 1 month after ZG/World dragons they start the war effort and then after the first cthun kill they release patch 1.10 and then merge with Anathema during Naxx.

The nice thing about this is you have a wide range of guilds are various stages of progression which is great for new players.  People don’t have to try to do naxx/AQ/BWL if they aren’t ready for it.  Guilds can essentially progress at their own pace.  This also unifies the PvP realm communities by having one main server.  They can also start to put their full focus on developing a TBC realm.  I imagine a merged server at Naxx would far exceed what Nost had because in my opinion the Naxx patch is truly the peak of vanilla wow.  If Elysium manage to script Naxx well, which I think they will, this server would essentially be the most hyped vanilla server ever because there would be so many old Nost players returning and then you also have the Elysium community, I personally don't play on Elysium but I think they also have an awesome community.  Some will argue that Anathema players won't return but let’s not kid ourselves many Anathema players quit because they viewed Anathema as a sinking ship and didn’t want to invest more time into it, if you get the sense that your server is dying you will likely stop playing on that server.  I think mixing the two communities is a good thing since we all are here because we enjoy playing vanilla wow, right now the two communities are constantly fighting with each other when we should be united.

Anyway, I know this solution isn’t going to be embraced by everyone but I truly believe this would be great for the project both in the short term and in the long term because at the end of the day what makes vanilla wow special is the community and uniting the community will only enhance the server’s longevity.

[dequecojonesvais 2]

Don't forget about Darrowshire players, they need to be a good experience too while playing.

[Keala 28]

Accelerating the content release on Elysium is indeed an option, but as long as the staff does not say a single word about what they are going to do, it won't work out no matter what. We don't really need any more suggestions about what should be done, since it's also pretty damn obvious what needs to be done. Instead we just need to hear what their intentions are for Anathema (and Darrowshire) in the future, because right now it just looks like they don't care in the slightest what happens to it, as if Elysium is the only server that really matters to them (I'm sorry but this is the impression I'm getting). Even if they choose any of the suggested options in this topic but decide to not say anything (probably to make a big surprise), Anathema will still die pretty soon because more and more players will get the feeling that it's a sinking ship, making a merge pointless since there'll be no one left to merge. Announcing that they have any plan for Anathema should keep the ship from sinking any further or at the very least, slow down the process, thus making a future merge actually worth doing.

About Darrowshire players, I can't really see what could be done to help them out. There's literally a vast majority that only plays there just for the disabled PvP. If you go check the Darrowshire section and read their thread about this issue, you will see comments about how a merge with Anathema or Elysium would literally make them quit the game. The only way then would be to make the Darrowshire players keep their PvE status even when on a PvP server, but I don't even know if such thing is possible.

[dequecojonesvais 2]

8 minutes ago, Keala said:

About Darrowshire players, I can't really see what could be done to help them out. There's literally a vast majority that only plays there just for the disabled PvP. If you go check the Darrowshire section and read their thread about this issue, you will see comments about how a merge with Anathema or Elysium would literally make them quit the game. The only way then would be to make the Darrowshire players keep their PvE status even when on a PvP server, but I don't even know if such thing is possible.

As a Darrowshire player i prefer a merge (more players, more fun) than leave my geared lvl 60 unused

[Keala 28]

I wouldn't mind merging Darrowshire with the other servers aswell, the problem lies with a portion of the Darrowshire community. Some of them play there for the PvE status, some don't. Because of this, a merge in this case can really only do more harm than good.

In my honest opinion, this is the ideal outcome:

1. The staff announces a future merge between Anathema and Elysium when they are on the same content patch, freezing progression on Anathema at the same time.
2. Wait for Elysium to catch up to Anathema.
3. Merge Anathema and Elysium (and maybe rename it to Elysium PvP? seems optional but I don't care about the server name anyway).
4. Open transfers from Darrowshire to Elysium PvP for those players that wish to play on a more populated server and do not care about the PvE status.

Point number 4 could use some changes, since it could literally just kill the server completely by doing that. It just seemed the best compromise since there are both people who don't want to get ganked and people who want to play on a more populated server.

Does this look like an acceptable outcome for you?

[Ragward 2]

I don't mind merging Elysium and Anathema , However what was proposed in the past was that they "Speed" elysiums timeline up and merge with anathema which just wont do because its pretty much just wasting the longevity of the server however once elysium has caught up it would make the most sense to merge the 2 servers as the "gear disparity" wont be huge and everyone will be on the same patch.

[grs 1]

Speeding up Elysium would be plain bad. It would just obsolete content. Anathema is almost done in timeline: it will get Naxx and then it is over anyways. Anathema is also not getting stalled for a year or more until Elysium cought up. The same is more or less true for Darroshire, which is a PVE server people selected to be on wo world pvp.

In hindsight, the splitting/opening of multiple servers was probably not ideal, but that is the way it went.

Merging/reorganising servers will not make any sense until TBC (if the team deceides to go that way).