Open season on ALL Guilds!

[DrNarcisse]

Originally Posted by Sirken [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

benefiting the server is a matter of perspective. Benefit the server how? improve the Red Raid scene? Improve the PvP encounters? Improve the population? Improve the midlevel game so people can play tanks? see my point?

First off, raid mob variance has nothing to do with mid level game so it's stupid to even mention. Red raid scene for the past 18+ months = huge zerg forms up, keeps the raid mobs in their own preferred window and overruns the mobs with huge amounts of players every single week at the same time. They know when it spawns, so the only variable in the equation is how many players they can get online. That means it is an enormous benefit to be a zerg. It's the only variable in the equation that matters! More players in guild = less competition = easier pixel farming.

but here are some facts, if multiple guilds were able/willing to have 24/7 trackers and use batphones, then yes, their odds of getting some of those mobs would improve. but, you will also have less pvp if nobody is certain on the exact spawn time of the mob.

Who says there would be LESS pvp? How many mass guild battles have there been in the past 18 months for a raid target? Less than 15? Sure doesn't seem like you can get much lower. You have the majority of high level players in one guild, and the majority of those players log in once a week for several hours to kill the majority of the raid mobs in game - and then, THEY LOG OFF! I can't blame them, they've been farming the same raid mobs for over a year, killing them like clockwork in their assembly line of players. There is no incentive for them to stay online. Why play any more than you have to to earn your dragon kill points when that is all that matters?

in regards to the current non variance system, as an outsider looking in, it really doesn't look fun. all the mobs are slewn on the same day of the week by a force that clearly outnumbers all other competitive forces, leaving zero chance for merbs and while theres pvp, i imagine it's very one sided.

No, there is no rabbit hole to go down. This is the only point that matters. You see this ass a Nihilum vs Azrael problem, when in fact it's a server policy problem. Your (or Nilbogs) policy is the problem. You have been complicate at every stage of this as you've been the GM for the entire 18 month period. It's YOUR fault for not understanding that the rabbit hole doesn't go deeper. Read the above quote and realize it has NOTHING to do with Nihilum, Azrael, Red Dawn, or any current or former guild. For 18 months you've had the power to change the raid scene (what 95%+ of players are here for when you dig deep down) by adding variance and stopping the abilty of one zerg to completely monopolize the raid mobs in the fashion you describe above. There is NOTHING ELSE that matters. Let me just make one adjustment to what you said in the last line:

"leaving zero chance for mobs and [b]WHEN[b] theres pvp, i imagine its very one sided."

For the past 18 months you've been the GM whose policy has allowed one guild to leave ZERO (0%) chance for mobs and WHEN (big distinction, since we all know these occurrences of pvp for raid mobs is actually extremely rare) there is pvp it's completely one sided. So you not only acknowledge that the only variable in the raid scene is number of players, that the pvp is completely one sided because one guild can become a ZERG and give not only 0% chance in pvp because of the power in numbers, but also 0% chance in getting a chance at a raid mob. The fact is, any change to variance will start a path of net positive effect on the server and guild structure. Your current structure gives 0% chance in both PVE and PVP to any zerg that materializes (again, it doesn't have to be Nihilum, this isn't anti Nihilum, this is anti-server policy). Now you want to construe that point into what you say below this and muddle the entire argument. This is the only argument that matters!

but Stasis my dear, lets go deeper down the rabbit hole.

Again, none of what you read below actually matters for anyone following along, but it would be better to argue it all at once.

the real reason people are crying isn't because the raid mobs are all being killed on one day of the week. the reason for the tears is because they are upset that they keep getting beat down 45 vs 20, every week they are outnumbered at least 2:1, sometimes i'd bet 3:1.

Wow, that's extremely presumptuous of you. I sure would argue that these players are INDEED mad that all the mobs die on one day of the week. They are at the mercy of the players they are competing with, who get to choose which day, hour, and minute they want to compete for mobs. Zerg guild pushes a mob into their preferred guild window when they can get the most players online, and then competing guild is then chastised when they aren't even able to show up with a majority of their players to contest in a 3:1 fashion. Sure seems like it's you whose missing the overall picture.

If we go deeper, they are mad that the only variable in end game on this server is how many players you can recruit into your guild. The clear advantage for recruiting would be the zerg guild (again, name doesn't matter), and even if the zerg guild was overthrown or fell apart in some fashion, ANOTHER zerg guid would form. So again, it doesn't matter which guild name is en vogue, it matters what the server policy is to give people NOT in the zerg guild a chance to compete. The current policy, as you've stated above (!!!), gives 0% chance for them to compete in both PVP and PVE. As the lead GM and lead PLAYER ADVOCATE, I say good job! A job well done!

and thats where most players stop investigating, but not me, your faithfully devoted server GM. oh no Stasis, i go even deeper.

A tryhard attempt at conflating the arguments until everything is muddled and unarguable, but as a devoted servant of truth, I will follow you into your argument Inception to prove you wrong some more.

WHY is it 45vs20 or 50vs15 every week? Why cant the second guild recruit new players? Why can't it retain current players?

Because your server policy gives complete (PVP and PVE) control to the guild with the most members in its guild. Because 95% of this server would rather farm a mob over farming a player (which, incidentally, your staff has admonished as "griefing" in many scenarios and "what is killing the server population" - no, your policy is.). So you really have the audacity to ask why a second guild can't recruit a competing force against a zerg guild that, as you've stated, has completely (100%) control of PVP and PVE situations when the vast majority of players would rather collect their weekly DKP cheque over having weekly PVP fights.

On the topic of retaining current players, I find it laudable that you wouldn't bring up the fact that Nihilum has churned through literally HUNDREDS of players since inception. The guild with the WORST player retention is the one at the top, not any secondary guild that has ever been formed. So your entire argument below that focuses on why the secondary guild can't recruit more than 20 players to compete against 60 is bunk. Nihilum has the worst player retention track record, just as would be expected with a zerg in any game, imo. Nothing is personal, it's just log in complete your weekly quest and log out. I'd wager most Nihilum members hate eachother, but with the server policy that completely (as you admitted) gives them all the power on the server, there is NOTHING another guild can or will ever be able to do.

there's currently two reasons for those things. 1) a lot of people want easy road to pixels and join top guild. 2) a lot of people think the other guild is a bunch of douchebags and would rather quit playing than join the same guild as the dumb asses that spew their garbage into OOC, make a habit of griefing players, and just act like general pieces shit.

Wow! You actually made a good point (although again you're arguing the wrong points), the majority of players want easy road to pixels which leads them into the top guild, the zerg. The second point is just dumb, I don't even really get what you're saying. You're talking about "the other guild" like it matters. Your policy is what has created these guilds, you've created a system where it's much much better to join The Empire because of their chokehold on PVP/PVE based on pure numbers, rather than join The Rebels who are limited in player resources.

Chastising "the other guild" for their OOC, griefing players, or acting like pieces of shit sure is the pot calling the kettle black. Since you keep wanting to bring this up to a Nihilum vs Azrael argument (again: it's not!), 100% of Nihilum members came from other guilds, even king wheelchair Nizzar himself (Ocean of Tears), and a good number of CURRENT Nihilum members came from Azrael. There are and have been those same pieces of shit in Nihilum, so why try to use it as an argument for why your SERVER POLICY is bad?

You've created (or at least continued) a system where one zerg guild will ALWAYS own this server. It doesn't matter if its Nihilum, Azrael, Red Dawn, or a guild name not yet created. Your server policy is wrong and while you're able to see it (0% chance for another guild to compete in PVP or PVE), you're just not able to admit its your fault and something completely under your control. We all know the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. You've done this for 18 months and I think you're expecting a different result without action. It's not happening. No one is ever going to be able to lead a satisfactory competing 2nd guild on this server without being able to compete in PVE and PVP. There's no way you can recruit or retain quality players when the chance of success is so low (0%, according to you Sirken).

With variance, you open up the door for leaner, more agile, and more active guilds to move in and take raid mobs or at least compete in some fashion with the zerg guild. They certainly won't win every mob or every guild on guild event, but they will win some, and then some more, and then some more. You will give hope to people who feel trapped in the current top zerg guild to quit it and do their own thing, instead of being forced to be in the only guild that kills MOBs, or a guild with leadership they don't like. It feels stupid even arguing these points anymore, you've had 18 months to make completely obvious changes and you've failed time and time again to do them. But I will pose the question again: In the case of variance, can you (or someone) please tell me 1 good thing about non-variance system? What is one positive effect that it brings the server? And then tell me why trying ANYTHING other than the current system, that we have 18 months of empiric data on, is not better?