no global ooc in offpeak killed the game

[Taxi]

Im thinking more in terms of whats healthy for the server, trying to get the EC tunnel is great, but is it at the expense of new players feeling the server is empty and giving up? For me thats the first thing that struck me different from VZTZ, the auction channel, the chitchat in OOC, made it a lively place.

Now the number of players is still high, i guess this is a good thing if people go with it and use EC alot, just hope it stays that way.

[stormlord]

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

Im thinking more in terms of whats healthy for the server, trying to get the EC tunnel is great, but is it at the expense of new players feeling the server is empty and giving up? For me thats the first thing that struck me different from VZTZ, the auction channel, the chitchat in OOC, made it a lively place.

Now the number of players is still high, i guess this is a good thing if people go with it and use EC alot, just hope it stays that way.

Well then reread my post because I 100% agree. The last paragraph is especially important to understand.

Let me give another example. If you have a huge landmass, and only 10 people, you're widely distributing them and thus isolating them. If you have 1000 people distributed over the same landmass, they're more closely scattered and less isolated from one another. If the game requires players to work together to accomplish things, then players that're isolated will be unable to play the game. Understand? This rule, or concept, exists in all mmorpgs, in different forms. It doesn't matter how you travel or move around. The rule still applies.

[Toony]

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

Im thinking more in terms of whats healthy for the server, trying to get the EC tunnel is great, but is it at the expense of new players feeling the server is empty and giving up?.

They were going to give up anyway. Anyone who's played classic eq can do a /who and realize the zone isn't empty and start using the local channels.

[girth]

/who <zone>', right? That even lists anonymous players.

I don't get that when I do it. I also don't get anon people when I do for instance a /who all 50 cleric - yet I have people I know that see anon when they do both...

Whats up with that?

[stormlord]

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

I don't get that when I do it. I also don't get anon people when I do for instance a /who all 50 cleric - yet I have people I know that see anon when they do both...

Whats up with that?

I'm not 100%. I know that /who returns anonymous players. I'm not 100% that /who <zone> returns anonymous players. But the rest of the points still stand. All global chat does is (more conveniently, but at the cost of increased spam, especially during peak hours, and of, as some say, unique communities) better connect you with anonymous players and those who're probably already too far away to make it practical. And anonymous players are probably not the ones actively looking to group with you or talk with you, or they wouldn't be anon.

If you can't find a group locally, the fault is not on lacking global chat, the fault is on population. Because if you have to run across the world to get a group, then this game is broke. One way to resolve that is to add world teleporters or pok books. Another way is to increase population. There're infinite ways.

At some point, we reach a population where we don't need global chat. There're arguments for and against. When I voted, I voted against removing /ooc until population increases. Now that it's removed, I'm doing what I can adjust and make it successful. These points, which i've made a thousand times, are separate from the fact that if you can't find a group unless you run across the world then the game is broke. Global chat won't save us if we have to run across the world to get a group because at that point, it's a matter of distance, not chat.

When the number of zones exploded in live, and population steadily (slowly) fell, they added luclin spires and pok books and guild hall portals. They did that to overcome the vast distances between players (lots of zones!). In fact, even without a falling population, they still would have had to add teleportation methods. Either that or they could make some zones hub zones, and have multiple connections to zones from multiple zones. A live developer recently stated that every zone in live is about 5 zones away from any other zone (2008-09).

[JayDee]

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

I'm not 100%. I know that /who returns anonymous players. I'm not 100% that /who <zone> returns anonymous players.

anonymous players do not show when you /who all [zone identifier]

[girth]

correct, but I've seen somebody do a who all 50 cleric and see like 4 50s and 4-5 anon 50 clerics.

[Branaddar]

I know it sucks trying to build a group during non-peak periods. I've been there. Back in the old days I worked an evening job, so most of my game time was morning-afternoon.

Honestly, global chat wouldn't have done much to fix the issue. It's an issue of not enough people playing during those times. Or people not putting up LFG. Or people not being adventurous enough to ask non-LFG people if they want to do something.

All I can suggest is try to get more people that would game on your time to play. Re-enabling global OOC may get you one more group spot filled out of ten play sessions. But people need to stop leaning on /role and /anon so much and just accept that they're going to get tells and that it's part of the game.

I've played a chanter and a wizard and the only times I put /role on were when I was running through a low level zone to avoid a billion tells for crack. Worse things have happened than having to "/r sorry, I'm busy at the moment."

[eqdruid76]

Aye, record number of players on P99 since serverwide chat was discontinued.

Yep, this game is obviously dead.

You monkeystick.....


The only thing around here that's dead is a lot of players' adaptability and ability to play the game themselves without having everyone else play it for them.

To quote Benjamin Franklin:

It's fine. L2Play.

[jilena]

I miss having random global chat when I am doing boring things. EC tunnel is a shitty horrible pain in the ass compared to global auction. I would gladly give up the tiny bit of "oh look a bunch of people standing around selling crap" nostalgia for convenience. Otherwise this doesn't really effect me.