The Officially Unofficial Weekly Discussion #64: How have increased server population affected you for good or bad?

[Enchantica]

5 hours ago, Snarky said:

Personally I am glad.  The influx of new blood is wonderful.  I have instituted a new friendlier open door policy!

 

Your new "door policy" is just a trick to drain our blood isn't it!?  lol

[Go0gleplex]

Not affected me at all other than being happy seeing more toons on Torch when I log on rather than a near ghost town. :) 

[rolandgrey]

General Chat is a lot more active.  You get to see some real gems in there sometimes.  Big events and TFs have a much deeper pool to draw from now, too.  So far, so good.

[Vic Raiden]

The good: the game world feels much less desolate with all these other players running about. Especially in Praetoria, where I used to feel completely alone.

 

The bad: the game is also more prone to crashing when I zone in to a more populated area.

[Doc_Scorpion]

Mostly good.  The influx of new players (mostly) haven't been infected (yet) with the nasty "rush to 50" virus that's pandemic on Homecoming, so there's been a lot more low and mid level PUG action.

[BurtHutt]

After playing a bit this week, I am really glad we have more players. Great to see them!

 

Also, I strongly suspect it won't last and a lot will go away. So, enjoy it while you can!

[Gamma XIII]

Excelsior.

 

Lots of new faces and chat is very lively.  Unfortunately I think that the influx of new folks are getting infected by the "City of Sitters" syndrome - don't get me wrong...people should do as they will but saying "I'm new and am looking to sit in a PD Fire Farm" just strikes me as odd.  Hopefully with people rushing to 50 they will see that there is pretty much the same level of content as there is levelling up.  You can see people asking to sit, while at the same time 5 different TFs are recruiting, Hollows and Zone Teams and DFBs and such.

 

So cray cray...

[Clave Dark 5]

15 hours ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

Mostly good.  The influx of new players (mostly) haven't been infected (yet) with the nasty "rush to 50" virus that's pandemic on Homecoming, so there's been a lot more low and mid level PUG action.

Same for me, except during the late late hours when I often get to play, then it reverts to the usual farm-begging, endless Yins and maybe a Tin/Pex (or is it Plex?) if you're lucky - just the like the bad old days!

 

Oh, one new thing I've noted too: back when the game was newly returned, one could make a post like "37th Scrapper LFG" and get responses reasonably often, enough to make it worth your time attempting.  That fell by the way side a long while before all these new people showed up.  Now there's a fair amount of that in LFG.  How long before that gets beaten down again, I wonder?

[Gamma XIII]

Yeah, there are a LOT of LFGs which is always a good thing but people can be picky and NOBODY wants to put a team together.  Hell, you can have 12 people standing ON Miss Libby shouting out "LFG for DFB" and few will take the initiative to build the team.  It ain't rocket science.

[Latex]

One of the major problems with Private Servers is cliques and Homecoming is no exception especially if you know the long history of COH and private servers. The influx of new players feels like it's smashed down some invisible walls, there's a lot of veteran players welcoming to them, and there's a lot of veteran players who've retracted into their shells that little bit more.

When a popular Youtuber plays here a little (for example maybe JoshStrifeHayes on the 'Worst MMO Ever' series) the population will explode far more than the current and I fully welcome it, the more players and new faces the better.

[tidge]

I'm enjoying the increased population (Torchbearer), with a small number of bête noire. Because they are so trivial, I shall list them!

• I'm witnessing a lot of patter (sometimes "bossy", sometimes less so) that reminds me a little too much of less enlightened times.

For example: I'm occasionally seeing LFG calls and in-team chat for specific ATs. There is very little content that requires anything that even looks like a "balanced" team. I used to just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but with the upcoming rewards for "balanced" teams, I kinda feel like the game will soon be explicitly rewarding a type of behavior that tends to be exclusionary.

• It's been a PITA in zones like Kings Row and Croatoa to find "loose" spawns that were left undefeated by some other Giant Monster Hunter.

When the GMs get buffed, I feel that the problem of people not cleaning up after their meals is only going to get worse... it does take a little extra time to make sure events are reset, yet it so rarely happens now,.. I want to believe it is some new player ignorance, but it happened before the big influx too. I worry that after an even longer struggle with a GM that fewer players will look around to make sure the event is ready for the next batch of players.

[MonteCarla]

As a PUG Task Force and teams runner on Everlasting, I've really enjoyed it.

It's great seeing the increased population in Atlas Park, particularly in the lull of Australian evenings when I often play.

It's been easier to get teams together, and really nice introducing people to things like Hero Tips missions that they haven't seen before. I've given a few impromptu tutorials after task forces, like showing people how to make money from merits to keep themselves in SO's, or start dabbling in inventions.

 

I'm loving it.

[Water]

More = merrier.

[FFFF]

22 hours ago, MonteCarla said:

It's been easier to get teams together, and really nice introducing people to things like Hero Tips missions that they haven't seen before. 

I played my very first Tips mission just a few months ago. And played since day 1 of live service. 
 

I think that’s mostly related to my own experience. I think I largely ignored the morality sub system and just played either heroes or villains. 

[DougGraves]

Big new change - people don't know the game on TFs

 

Did a Positron 1 and 2 and new and returning players did not know every mission by heart and how to get to Faultline.  There was a lot of explaining and waiting.

 

It's not bad if you know - but I can't just assume everyone knows everything about the game anymore.

[Doc_Scorpion]

On 1/25/2024 at 8:25 AM, DougGraves said:

So what server are you on?  How has the increased server population affected you?

Something else I've been seeing with the population increase...  The City seems more alive.  I mean, I was out back of beyond in KR running some missions, and while I was loitering near my mish door, a team came out of the door after me - and another team formed up and headed in.

[Yomo Kimyata]

On 1/25/2024 at 3:39 PM, Yomo Kimyata said:

I've been overjoyed by the quantity and saddened by the quality.  Read into that whatever you like.

 

 

For the most part, the new folks are lovely.  However, there does seem to be a significantly higher percentage of them who strike me as an AI answer to the request "Design an MMO player as if they were the child of Dunning and Kruger, and then were abandoned by their parents and left to be raised by a pack of 4chan."

[Doc_Scorpion]

2 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

For the most part, the new folks are lovely.  However, there does seem to be a significantly higher percentage of them who strike me as an AI answer to the request "Design an MMO player as if they were the child of Dunning and Kruger, and then were abandoned by their parents and left to be raised by a pack of 4chan."

I have never played any MMO where there wasn't true.

[Excraft]

On 1/25/2024 at 5:05 PM, Coyotedancer said:

I play solo/duo mostly... When I do team, it's with the family SG only... So, just having more people around really hasn't made any difference for me. 

 

Same here.  Been more of a hassle in the few times we had to queue to log in if I'm being honest.

[Mister Mass]

I'm on Torchbearer & there is noticeably more traffic.  Since I am primarily a solo artist, this doesn't effect me much most of the time.  But I have been pleasantly surprised at how much more quickly I can form a TF when I send out the call on LFG - even for redside SFs.  Since none of my SGmates or coalition partners play much anymore, forming a TF more-or-less means PUGging it.  But I have had good luck with my PUG TFs so far.  Most of the lesser experienced players are willing to ask questions & follow directions, & the more experienced ones are willing to share their expertise - & carry the teams with their mighty builds.

 

Some of the spam in LFG I could do without, but I can just ignore that, so I have little to complain about.  (But since I'm a cranky old man, that probably won't stop me from bitching anyway. 😁)

[Oubliette_Red]

I was on my ex-Praetorian over in Imperial City and someone was calling out in Help that they had made their way here but then didn't know how to get back to Primal Earth. They were unfamiliar with the area so I went down to Precinct 4, sent them a team invite and had them follow me to Studio 55. Showed them the portal behind the ramp around to the right and took them through to Pocket D. They then asked about getting to Faultline and I showed them the sewer lid that would get them there. They already had an LRT so I let them know that they can get an exploration badge in the donut on top of the buildting to the east of the exit from Pocket D, but they could also get to Skyway through the tunnel and the tram not too far from that.

 

It's fun having new people around to impart a little wisdom and info, even an impromptu tour.

 

Edited February 16 by Oubliette_Red