Rikti Invasions & Shard-Specific XP Boosts! (Update: Jan 16th)

[Doc_Scorpion]

Disable AE on Excelsior and watch the load plummet...  /s  🙂 🙂 

[Blackbird71]

17 hours ago, Jimmy said:

It's targeted at both new and old players. Patrol XP wouldn't work because you can simply transfer after gaining it.

 

 

That doesn't really track.  With the XP boost, nothing is preventing characters from transferring after they've power leveled, so it's the same issue.

As noted before, established players are less likely to shard-hop away from groups they're used to playing with.  I'm sure some will just to take advantage of the XP boost, and then they'll be right back with their groups once the boost is gone or they've reached their desired levels. 

This shard-specific boost just seems to punish those who have ties keeping them to a particular shard.

If you really want to try to even out the shard numbers, first thing you are going to have to do is either limit shard transfers based on shard pop, or shut them off partially for certain shards (can only transfer into low-pop shards and/or out of high-pop shards).  Without that, you'll run into the same problems just as soon as the XP boost is gone.  I'm not saying this is a good idea, only that it's necessary to controlling shard pop.  If you want people to stick around on a shard and build it up, you can't make it inconsequentially easy to change.

 

Where the shard-based XP boost really feels bad is that in the past, XP boosts have often been turned on as part of a celebration of some milestone or other event.  As these boosts came in the wake of the licensing agreement announcement, it really felt like players on some shards were being left out of the celebration of that announcement.

Edited January 17, 2024 by Blackbird71

[Jimmy]

20 minutes ago, Blackbird71 said:

 

That doesn't really track.  With the XP boost, nothing is preventing characters from transferring after they've power leveled, so it's the same issue.

I think you’re misunderstanding.

 

You can utilise Patrol XP after a server transfer. You can’t utilise an XP boost.

 

We are fully aware that players are likely to move back after the boosts end.

 

We need players to choose to not play on Excelsior during this busy period. Some players will be selfless enough to do that, even though they may prefer Excelsior. The boosts are a simple way of rewarding that choice.

 

You can still choose to play on Excelsior if you aren’t interested in helping solve this problem. But we aren’t going to reward that choice.

 

Again, we know this method works, because we can actually see the data.

[Blackbird71]

1 minute ago, Jimmy said:

I think you’re misunderstanding.

 

You can utilise Patrol XP after a server transfer. You can’t utilise an XP boost.

 

We are fully aware that players are likely to move back after the boosts end.

 

We need players to choose to not play on Excelsior during this busy period. Some players will be selfless enough to do that, even though they may prefer Excelsior. The boosts are a simple way of rewarding that choice.

 

You can still choose to play on Excelsior if you aren’t interested in helping solve this problem. But we aren’t going to reward that choice.

 

Again, we know this method works, because we can actually see the data.

 

Again, players can power-level a character in a few hours, so that's all the boost buys you, a few hours on another shard.  

 

This is a temporary fix at best; when it's done you'll have the same imbalance and problems that were there before.

 

And again, it comes at the cost of feeling exclusionary, cutting players out of the celebration, or sending the message that they are not as valued as others.  That's not a great PR move, and the timing and communication could have been a lot better.

[Jimmy]

5 minutes ago, Blackbird71 said:

 

Again, players can power-level a character in a few hours, so that's all the boost buys you, a few hours on another shard.  

 

This is a temporary fix at best; when it's done you'll have the same imbalance and problems that were there before.

 

And again, it comes at the cost of feeling exclusionary, cutting players out of the celebration, or sending the message that they are not as valued as others.  That's not a great PR move, and the timing and communication could have been a lot better.

 

I think you are fundamentally missing the point of that we’re trying to do.

 

As we explained, we aren’t trying to permanently balance the population between shards. We just temporarily want people off Excelsior.

 

Players are not restricted to one shard. Nobody is excluded by this.

 

Excelsior facing continual instability would’ve been a far worse problem than a tiny, tiny fraction of players being upset that they aren’t getting the XP boost because they don’t want to help the community by facing a minor inconvenience and playing on another shard for a while.

 

Thankfully, there are enough community-minded players who have made the jump and Excelsior has remained fairly stable outside of a few hiccups.

[Blackbird71]

5 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

 

I think you are fundamentally missing the point of that we’re trying to do.

 

As we explained, we aren’t trying to permanently balance the population between shards. We just temporarily want people off Excelsior.

 

Players are not restricted to one shard. Nobody is excluded by this.

 

Excelsior facing continual instability would’ve been a far worse problem than a tiny, tiny fraction of players being upset that they aren’t getting the XP boost because they don’t want to help the community by facing a minor inconvenience and playing on another shard for a while.

 

Thankfully, there are enough community-minded players who have made the jump and Excelsior has remained fairly stable outside of a few hiccups.

 

That's being awfully condescending towards those who choose not to leave their preferred shard because it's where their friends and SGs are.

 

Frankly, this whole thing comes across as a great big "screw you" to those players, and referring to them as not being "community-minded" only reinforces that.  That was rude and uncalled for.

[Jimmy]

12 minutes ago, Blackbird71 said:

 

That's being awfully condescending towards those who choose not to leave their preferred shard because it's where their friends and SGs are.

 

Frankly, this whole thing comes across as a great big "screw you" to those players, and referring to them as not being "community-minded" only reinforces that.  That was rude and uncalled for.

Honestly, that’s a them problem. Not an us problem.

 

If we didn’t do this, Excelsior would’ve collapsed under its own weight. Then nobody would’ve been able to enjoy playing on Excelsior. Would that have been preferable?

 

You probably would’ve felt differently if we let Excelsior fall apart for two days before enacting this plan. But we chose to take preventative action instead.

 

We know very well that plenty of players would prefer to stay on their home shard. So, yeah. I am being genuine when I say we need selfless, community-minded players to take that leap - temporarily - and inconvenience themselves for the greater good, so that everyone else can still play on a stable Excelsior.

 

And we are rewarding those players.

 

For those expecting that same reward for not taking the leap? Again, that’s a them problem. Not an us problem.

I apologise if you find my tone upsetting. I’m merely presenting the facts as I see them.

[Blackbird71]

Claiming people are shard-hopping because they are "community-minded" is either false or delusional.  You said it yourself, they're chasing the XP boosts; it's a self-serving choice.  Assuming any other motivation is disingenuous.  If they were doing this because they were being "community-minded," no XP bonus would have been necessary to entice them.

 

Meanwhile, there are those who have established and built communities with the game, often at great effort and investment of personal time.  These are communities that welcome new players, that help people learn how to play, and which keep people playing through interest in connections formed with others.  To call them not "community-minded" because they refuse to abandon those groups and instead remain with them and maintain them at the sacrifice of the XP bonus is a gross insult.

Edited January 17, 2024 by Blackbird71

[Ruin Mage]

Why is it a big deal that Everlasting and Torchbearer don't get as big a XP bonus? You're making a mountain out of an ant hill.

[Jimmy]

7 minutes ago, Blackbird71 said:

Claiming people are shard-hopping because they are "community-minded" is either false or delusional.  You said it yourself, they're chasing the XP boosts; it's a self-serving choice.  Assuming any other motivation is disingenuous.

 

Meanwhile, there are those who have established and built communities with the game, often at great effort and investment of personal time.  These are communities that welcome new players, that help people learn how to play, and which keep people playing through interest in connections formed with others.  To call them not "community-minded" because they refuse to abandon those groups and instead remain with them and maintain them at the sacrifice of the XP bonus is a gross insult.

 

Those players temporarily jumping to another shard - whatever their motivation (and I’ve seen plenty of players state that their motivation is to help balance the load) - are the reason anyone is able to enjoy playing on Excelsior during peak hours. Claiming that they are only making a self-serving choice is rude and disingenuous.
 

Anyway, we clearly aren’t going to agree, so let’s leave it there for now.

[golstat2003]

2 hours ago, Jimmy said:

 

Those players temporarily jumping to another shard - whatever their motivation (and I’ve seen plenty of players state that their motivation is to help balance the load) - are the reason anyone is able to enjoy playing on Excelsior during peak hours. Claiming that they are only making a self-serving choice is rude and disingenuous.
 

Anyway, we clearly aren’t going to agree, so let’s leave it there for now.

 

Jimmy you have been nothing but polite and to the point all in this thread. Thanks for the info. I think some folks forget you guys actually SEE the data.

[Troo]

I do eet for the XP man!

[Glacier Peak]

6 minutes ago, golstat2003 said:

Jimmy you have been nothing but polite and to the point all in this thread. Thanks for the info. I think some folks forget you guys actually SEE the data.

And the Homecoming team plays the game too!

[Arcanum]

 

3 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

And the Homecoming team plays the game too!

We sure do! I have a whole folder of images dedicated to Jimmy dying on various missions if we need proof! 😄

[Bionic_Flea]

But Jimmy, why are you so mean?  I just want to do what I want, when I want, to who I want.  Is that so wrong?

Edited January 17, 2024 by Bionic_Flea

[Jimmy]

7 minutes ago, Bionic_Flea said:

But Jimmy, why are you so mean?  I just want to do what I want ,when I want, to who I want.  Is that so wrong?

 

But Flea, why can't you place your commas correctly?

[Bionic_Flea]

12 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

But Flea, why can't you place your commas correctly?

 

Comas, mean everything.  Butt speling is impotent two!

 

 

 

Also: fixed!

 

[Etched]

I see this as a pretty cut and dry situation and understand completely why certain shards are gettin special treatment.  If Excelsior or Everlast crashes then the other three servers will probably follow suit when everyone that plays on those servers rush to the less populated servers and forcin those to crash as well. 

 

I just have two pretty simple questions. 

When can we expect lighted warehouse windows within base construction and what would you do for a Klondike Bar?

 

@Etched

[lemming]

I hopped to other servers somewhat to just screw around on the other servers.   Got me to transfer some non-played characters and start a couple alts that are probably going to stay in these new outposts.   Just wish there was a basic base I could just upload, but I've been figuring out some more streamlined versions.

[UltraAlt]

46 minutes ago, lemming said:

Just wish there was a basic base I could just upload

 

*Open Player Made Base Listing - https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Supergroup_Base

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Everlasting_Base_List

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Torchbearer_Base_List

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Reunion_Base_List

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Indomitable_Base_List

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Excelsior_Base_List

 

*passcodes listed. no assembly required.

 

If you use one of those for travel, leveling, and insps (maybe even buffs), it takes no time to build a storage only base ... if you even need storage.

Honestly, I squirrel away a lot of stuff, but, then when it comes to slotting, I end up buying what I'm going to slot (usually in advance and storing it in enhancement tray 1 or 2 until I need it on each character). I hardly ever end up going back into the stuff I squirreled away.

 

But then ...

 

[lemming]

6 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

*Open Player Made Base Listing

Yep, I use those until I get my own ready.   I just have a basic layout that I like and looks nearly identical to my others.  It's not a huge deal for me to set them up.

[Darsch]

On 1/16/2024 at 8:51 AM, Jimmy said:

Update - January 16th, 2024

Everlasting & Torchbearer are now have +50% XP. Reunion and Indomitable will remain at +100% XP.

 

Additionally, Rikti Invasions are now live on all shards and will continue until maintenance next week (January 23rd). Enjoy!

I am getting more xp on Torchbearer atm then I am on Reunion and Indomitable. by about a 6,000 xp difference, tested multiple times with the same mobs at the same level in the same mission.

[Glacier Peak]

10 minutes ago, Darsch said:

I am getting more xp on Torchbearer atm then I am on Reunion and Indomitable. by about a 6,000 xp difference, tested multiple times with the same mobs at the same level in the same mission.

The rates you described do not align with what has been stated in this thread and what I found for testing just now.

 

My testing (Level 1, transferred to each, brand new, Atlas Park, against a Level 2 Minion) shows:

 

Indomitable

 

Reunion

 

Torchbearer

 

Excelsior

 

Edited January 17, 2024 by Glacier Peak
added Excelsior for reference

[Darsch]

18 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

The rates you described do not align with what has been stated in this thread and what I found for testing just now.

 

My testing (Level 1, transferred to each, brand new, Atlas Park, against a Level 2 Minion) shows:

 

Indomitable

 

Reunion

 

Torchbearer

 

Excelsior

 

well I went from getting 26k to around 16k once I transferred and running the same xp farm I have been running all month. Sorry you're testing is not reflecting what I am having happen. 

[Glacier Peak]

Just now, Darsch said:

well I went from getting 26k to around 16k once I transferred and running the same xp farm I have been running all month. Sorry you're testing is not reflecting what I am having happen. 

Apologies are not needed, happy to help figure out your XP shortcoming if you could post some more specific information such as, what mission, what difficulty setting, your character level, enemy xp rate, etc.