Everlasting Redside low population

[hellohello]

As a returning player, I've logged in recently and each time I see the visible redside player pop is really sparse compared to Atlas Park etc for the blues. Is there a primetime period when the activity picks up during the week?

If not, how would people feel about establishing one here on the forums, ie a time each week to encourage any red players to log in, ensuring high pop so we're guaranteed plenty of mission runs and a good chance to level quickly?

[VileTerror]

The Pride Global Channel used to do a Redside day of the week.  I think we could try promoting something like that on Everlasting too!

Pop in to the OOC Global Channel during primetime (8pm Eastern) on Friday, and we should be able to drum up some interest.

I'll even pitch in by offering some perks and rewards for Villain milestones!

[The Bobby Llama]

Simply designating a villain schedule on the forums won't get you very far, because the vast majority of the player base doesn't read them.  However, it has also been my observation that the vast majority of players are loathe to take their own initiative - you can generate interest just by providing an activity that they can join.

 

So, if you want to start a designated villain day, start by running your own villain teams.  When you advertise in LFG, make sure you mention that it's a weekly thing (or whatever timeframe you decide).  It might start out slow, but people will show up.  The most important thing is to break the "nobody plays redside" negative feedback loop by doing it in a way that is highly visible, but you also want a regular schedule so people associate that time with redside activity.

 

This isn't to discount VileTerror's post about recruiting in global channels, of course.  My point is simply that putting together a regular community event (which is essentially what this is) takes some legwork by someone (or several someones) willing to take the lead.  Picking a day to "ensur[e] high pop" isn't enough.

[Ashlaylay]

Redside was sparse during live too. Mainly because the design of the Rogue Isles has you spending more time traveling to get to missions than blueside does / blueside leveling just always felt faster in general. Your best bet might be to establish a leveling group that meets up on certain days or join a VG to feel a bit more activity redside.

[Gulbasaur]

I think on live it was only ever about 20%, which is why later developed stuff (RWZ, Cimeroroa, Dark Astoria) was co-operative - the devs didn't want to develop stuff that only 20% of players would see.

[VV]

One thing to consider when wanting to do redside runs. Meet in Pocket D next to Null the Gull. Then anyone who needs to swap alignments can participate. Be sure to add that note to your invitational messages. Also, you can remind people that swapping alignment gets you badges and a free power.

 

To me, now that Null is there, I hardly consider them different "sides". I keep most of my characters at Vigilante or Rogue, so they can easily participate in any content. I think the best thing way to increase participation on red "side" is to remind people how easy it is to get there, now. And, with base transports. getting from a blue to a red zone is as easy as getting from a blue to a blue.

[Force Redux]

I've found the best way to promote red side activity is to start something myself. Paper missions, strike forces, whatever. It may take a little longer to gather players, but I've never actually failed to get a team going. Many blue siders will swap over, that are just waiting for someone to start something. 😀

 

This happens on blue. Fifteen people LFG, but no one starting anything. 

[Midnight Blue Mage]

Redside population is unfortunately always disproportionately low, but Everlasting has the most active redside of all the Shards, so at least you are in the right place :]

[XaoGarrent]

On 3/8/2020 at 2:38 PM, Ashlaylay said:

Redside was sparse during live too. Mainly because the design of the Rogue Isles has you spending more time traveling to get to missions than blueside does / blueside leveling just always felt faster in general. Your best bet might be to establish a leveling group that meets up on certain days or join a VG to feel a bit more activity redside.

There is a laundry list of reasons why Redside is less popular.

 

-World maps are incredibly obnoxious and difficult to transverse without some kind of vertical travel power.

-Nastier enemies, showing up much earlier in the game. Arachnos everywhere, in particular. Brickbusters and Slag golems hit you with a frequency and level of debuff that is rarely seen elsewhere.

-Even more narrow caves.

-Even more buggy Arachnos bases.

-A form of writing that really only works for a certain subset of villains. ...Well, with some exceptions. There are some real true to form villainous arcs in there, but they're few and far between, and one of the most evil ones comes real late in the game.

-The gothic thing is really nice, but a lot of Redside is just ugly to a degree that should piss off even cold blooded villains. I mean, it does make sense, it's ancapistan, but still. Grab a damn broom.

-Other reasons I'm forgetting.

 

The thing is conceptually, the lore of redside makes a ton of sense, and is written accurately for what it's trying to be. It's just riddled with execution errors and in some places puts the lore too highly over gameplay.

 

The OG devs had an issue with over prioritizing concept/theme over gameplay/balance on the enemy side of things, and balance/gameplay over concept/theme on the player side of things... And the most glaring evidence of this error is smeared all across redside. Even the terrain being a pain to transverse for those that can't fly or jump super high adheres to Recluse and Arachnos' particular brand of social darwinism.

[Snowdaze]

8 hours ago, XaoGarrent said:

 

-Nastier enemies, showing up much earlier in the game. Arachnos everywhere, in particular. Brickbusters and Slag golems hit you with a frequency and level of debuff that is rarely seen elsewhere.

 

Whats a "Brickbusters"?  I've been around the block a few times and cant figure out what you meant by this one.

[The Bobby Llama]

10 minutes ago, Snowdaze said:

Whats a "Brickbusters"?  I've been around the block a few times and cant figure out what you meant by this one.

Goldbrickers, I think.

[Snowdaze]

14 minutes ago, The Bobby Llama said:

Goldbrickers, I think.

I was leaning that way, but I've never really had a huge problem with them. The Boomers can hurt, but they have to hit, and the whole lot of them are notoriously inaccurate, like stormtrooper level accuracy! (I mean I'm sure this is just an effect that by the time I encounter them I've started putting on some defense already and Gold Brickers have nothing to really mitigate player defense)

[XaoGarrent]

2 hours ago, Snowdaze said:

Whats a "Brickbusters"?  I've been around the block a few times and cant figure out what you meant by this one.

Goldbrickers, right. Yeah, Midas' guys. Brickbusters are from a certain other game, derp.

2 hours ago, Snowdaze said:

I was leaning that way, but I've never really had a huge problem with them. The Boomers can hurt, but they have to hit, and the whole lot of them are notoriously inaccurate, like stormtrooper level accuracy! (I mean I'm sure this is just an effect that by the time I encounter them I've started putting on some defense already and Gold Brickers have nothing to really mitigate player defense)

The accuracy, and even the level of resistance debuff, starts to matter a little less individually when you have a whole swarm of them shooting at you at once, especially if you're playing on a difficulty higher than +0. It's more a problem that occurs when you're on a full sized team, and because you encounter them so early on. ...And once you're done dealing with them, worse things begin to come along. https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Longbow#Longbow_Nullifier

[Snowdaze]

I guess, I just don't perceive these as hard, just because they do -res.

[XaoGarrent]

1 minute ago, Snowdaze said:

I guess, I just don't perceive these as hard, just because they do -res.

Perceive whatever you want, a faction that does -res is factually going to hit you harder than another otherwise comparable faction that doesn't. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[Snowdaze]

I find the most trouble with CoT and their cascading -acc debuff, if I cant hit them they can take all day to whittle me down need be.

[Peacemoon]

On 4/23/2020 at 7:37 PM, XaoGarrent said:

Goldbrickers, right. Yeah, Midas' guys. Brickbusters are from a certain other game, derp.

The accuracy, and even the level of resistance debuff, starts to matter a little less individually when you have a whole swarm of them shooting at you at once, especially if you're playing on a difficulty higher than +0. It's more a problem that occurs when you're on a full sized team, and because you encounter them so early on. ...And once you're done dealing with them, worse things begin to come along. https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Longbow#Longbow_Nullifier

I seem to remember red side being more difficult. If anything it gives me a reason to try it out! I like red side, but I just get put off by all the arachnos stuff. I wish they weren’t so dominant and it was just a gothem city type place. Oh well!

[Force Redux]

I head canon some stuff for my RP characters, where needed, though I do tend to try to play within the lore sandbox as much as possible. 

 

I just ran two good RP teams today, Nerva full group, and Grandville 6-man. Now that I have 9 toons all fully incarnated, I have no desire to alt, and lots of desire to RP and run teams for others, particularly Redside. Every time I take the initiative, I manage to find out of other Red players. They are there. Some are playing Blue, but will swap to Red the moment they see something advertised. Don't be put off! 🙂🙂🙂

Edited May 2, 2020 by Force Redux

[XaoGarrent]

3 hours ago, Peacemoon said:

I seem to remember red side being more difficult. If anything it gives me a reason to try it out! I like red side, but I just get put off by all the arachnos stuff. I wish they weren’t so dominant and it was just a gothem city type place. Oh well!

Honestly, if it wasn't for all the Lawful Good Crusader type hero activity trying to pry its way into the Isles, Arachnos would probably take a more hands off approach. See, they're social darwinists, they're basically a form of anarchist, specifically a form of anarcho capitalist without the non-aggression principle (Which for all their evil, is actually to their credit, the NAP is unenforceable delusional garbage).

 

They don't like any form of governance, they want to establish a hegemony of only the strong survive and the strongest rule, a society that is truly every man for themselves. But they will gladly go against their ideals and govern if it means establishing a state of, basically, their desired form of chaos. With the constant incursions by Longbow and assortment of other capes constantly trying to upright the isles, Arachnos has to take an iron fisted approach often, because eventually some heroes would succeed and start making gains, probably trying to set up a proper democracy, enacting criminal justice against villains, and the various businesses that run the Isles, Aeon included, would eventually have the same kind of eyes on them that Crey does. 

 

But yeah, basically, the only reason Arachnos operates in as strong arm of a manner as they do is because they're ideologues engaged in a power battle. Ideology is a weird thing, it blinds people to obvious hypocrisy, because ultimately, when delusion becomes rooted in a person's world view, the goal of winning becomes more important than the goal of being reality coherent. This is why I consider the writing red side so damn good: It properly appreciates how extremists with a vision of the world based on subjectivity think and act.

Edited May 2, 2020 by XaoGarrent

[Coyotedancer]

Backstory-wise, my Oranbegan characters are all heavily focused on the Temple complex in Primeva…

 

They get to be ticked off at both Longbow ("What's with that 'setting up the Agincourt base right on our bloody doorstep'-thing, you inconsiderate jerks?!") *and* Arachnos ("Oh. Look. Here come the spiders again. Barging through our ruins like they own the place. Stealing our stuff. Being blasty, stabby a-holes... AND they left that Nalor guy over there playing around with our portals again! Sheesh.") before any of the shifty villain-types or crusading heroes even come into it. 

 

There are a LOT of people you can be annoyed with on red side is what I'm saying here. Spiders, heroes, nut-jobs with flame-throwers.... Take your pick. XD

 

That aside, I do have red side characters. I just tend to be mostly-solo when I'm on that side of the world.

If you happen to see me on Tavaris, Kaikara or Ferrian, drop me a message and I'm usually up for some running around not-solo, though.

 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by Coyotedancer