Yesterday EU primetime, 8FG hib zerg (or something like that) 5-6FG mid zerg
3FG alb zerg for a very short moment to try something
And lot of 8v8 or 8v8+adds around the main zerg area.

Did like 4 zerg fights and 10+ 8v8 within few hours.
And i have no problem to get few 1vs1/2/3 when i solo.
It usually end up in 8 rolling over 1, even when less than 1000 online.

Who cares about the stats ? Or the friend that left the server for a few weeks or went to another realm ??
You need positives numbers and 15 friends ready to group with you anytime to have fun in this game ????
If you don't know how to have fun with 2.5K online, you will not find a way even at 4K...... Face it.
Jump in or under this freaking train, but don't whine like a kid that just broke his new toy (or found out he is not fun the way he thought, it's an old toy after all, kids prefer pokemon go these days).

Im having fun everyday... solo, smalman and 8man pugs.

jenskamen wrote:Im having fun everyday... solo, smalman and 8man pugs.

If only we had something for RVR MMORPG players.

Many factors are contributing: (Disclaimer, this is from the perspective of a NA player during those times in question)

One that is overlooked is the time of year, Uthgard hit in the swill of winter, and now, we are in the middle of Spring with Summer around the corner. That alone will suck players away....remember most of us have families now.

With that said, I can speak in (not for) Albion anyway, many of us rolled up Paladins and classes to help our guilds level....well guess what, if Charades tells me all Pallies should die in RL because our class sucks again, I think I'm going to roll Mid just to Mezz his ass repeatedly...but he does have a valid point. As I roam around or try to get BG's going with my guild, our Alliance and any Albion for that matter, the class' pitfalls are evident. Without the boon from later patches, all a Paladin is useful for is PVE...hell we even have a Realm Ability that's an AOE taunt, I supposed good for guards but, I mean really?

Anywho enough of me whining about my class, but the morale of that story is the grind. I'd love to finish off my Cleric to help with RVR groups. Heck NA time some nights there are groups with one or even zero clerics. How can you compete with set ups like that? Honestly you can't, but you can't quit either, so you roll on out there to play the game you love and get smoked by lesser numbers, and higher RR and yadda yadda yadda, but it's no ones fault really. We have to play the cards we are dealt, and if that's poor group make ups so be it.

But Albion would certainly benefit from a less stringent XP grind, so that we can reroll a class for rvr, and shelve our PVE characters.

Another "Albion" factor, is that we have allowed SI classes in this game without SI content. What does that mean? Well it means that we have enough Necros to fill Lyonesse, Barfog, and any other Leveling/Farming place in between. This includes the necro that I have as well. The necro really does help Albion, but also hinders it. To level it's now a PL race, groups are scarce, and unless a guild group forms, you're SOL.

Lastly one factor is what this game has turned into. Gone are the nostalgic days when the game was about your realm and winning the war, or trying to. I seem to remember when the Realm Abilities were first implemented circa 2001 or 2002, that folks realized that running in solo groups gained more RPS and thus more abilities faster, ie. PLing your Realm Points. There was one stark difference with those players in that game then there are now. Most of those folks would attend and contribute to greater war efforts.

Now before you pounce and carry on, there are a few NA time slot 8 mans who will contribute to the greater effort, and that's awesome reminds me of the past a lot. There are just as many, if not more that will send you a tell and berate you for "Ruining their night" A BG lead in Albion can not 100% rely on the 8 man in the BG to assist or help when needed. They are the strongest groups with many good players, I will argue that there are just as many evenly or sometimes even better players that are casual then the 8 mans, but to rely on them to assist at a keep take, or to guard a postern during a relic attempt is setting yourself up for disappointment.

So what does that all have to do with population and the state of the game? Well the game thrives with casual players logging in and playing the game. The economy booms, the groups and the community blossom, the game rolls on. Without those casual players what exactly is the game we are playing? Nothing more then Call of Duty with Runnies, Wizards, and Enchanters, in lieu of AK 47's, M4's and Hand grenades.

There is no solution to the above mentioned, for it is we the players that create that atmosphere.

In closing, I hope the Devs, can come up with a plan to get things rolling better during NA times. If not I do honestly fear some that will take a break for a week in the summer, may not return at all.

vack wrote:Many factors are contributing: (Disclaimer, this is from the perspective of a NA player during those times in question)

One that is overlooked is the time of year, Uthgard hit in the swill of winter, and now, we are in the middle of Spring with Summer around the corner. That alone will suck players away....remember most of us have families now.

With that said, I can speak in (not for) Albion anyway, many of us rolled up Paladins and classes to help our guilds level....well guess what, if Charades tells me all Pallies should die in RL because our class sucks again, I think I'm going to roll Mid just to Mezz his ass repeatedly...but he does have a valid point. As I roam around or try to get BG's going with my guild, our Alliance and any Albion for that matter, the class' pitfalls are evident. Without the boon from later patches, all a Paladin is useful for is PVE...hell we even have a Realm Ability that's an AOE taunt, I supposed good for guards but, I mean really?

Anywho enough of me whining about my class, but the morale of that story is the grind. I'd love to finish off my Cleric to help with RVR groups. Heck NA time some nights there are groups with one or even zero clerics. How can you compete with set ups like that? Honestly you can't, but you can't quit either, so you roll on out there to play the game you love and get smoked by lesser numbers, and higher RR and yadda yadda yadda, but it's no ones fault really. We have to play the cards we are dealt, and if that's poor group make ups so be it.

But Albion would certainly benefit from a less stringent XP grind, so that we can reroll a class for rvr, and shelve our PVE characters.

Another "Albion" factor, is that we have allowed SI classes in this game without SI content. What does that mean? Well it means that we have enough Necros to fill Lyonesse, Barfog, and any other Leveling/Farming place in between. This includes the necro that I have as well. The necro really does help Albion, but also hinders it. To level it's now a PL race, groups are scarce, and unless a guild group forms, you're SOL.

Lastly one factor is what this game has turned into. Gone are the nostalgic days when the game was about your realm and winning the war, or trying to. I seem to remember when the Realm Abilities were first implemented circa 2001 or 2002, that folks realized that running in solo groups gained more RPS and thus more abilities faster, ie. PLing your Realm Points. There was one stark difference with those players in that game then there are now. Most of those folks would attend and contribute to greater war efforts.

Now before you pounce and carry on, there are a few NA time slot 8 mans who will contribute to the greater effort, and that's awesome reminds me of the past a lot. There are just as many, if not more that will send you a tell and berate you for "Ruining their night" A BG lead in Albion can not 100% rely on the 8 man in the BG to assist or help when needed. They are the strongest groups with many good players, I will argue that there are just as many evenly or sometimes even better players that are casual then the 8 mans, but to rely on them to assist at a keep take, or to guard a postern during a relic attempt is setting yourself up for disappointment.

So what does that all have to do with population and the state of the game? Well the game thrives with casual players logging in and playing the game. The economy booms, the groups and the community blossom, the game rolls on. Without those casual players what exactly is the game we are playing? Nothing more then Call of Duty with Runnies, Wizards, and Enchanters, in lieu of AK 47's, M4's and Hand grenades.

There is no solution to the above mentioned, for it is we the players that create that atmosphere.

In closing, I hope the Devs, can come up with a plan to get things rolling better during NA times. If not I do honestly fear some that will take a break for a week in the summer, may not return at all.

TL DR

Quick reminder : https://unixgeek.com/uthgard.html#alldata
Basically Uthgard lost 4-5% players everyday on the last 2 weeks.

Main reason : we are almost all 25+ yo and not enough time to play. DAoC needs at least 2-3h in a row of dedicated gaming while MOBA or PUBG need 45min max, plus you are 100% sure to play in the next 5mn after you logged in.

So why bothering with DAoC when you can have fun on another game quicker which requires also less investment ?

PS : Hib has now 3 power relics again and after many days without any hib grp (except in the zerg), we met 4 or 5 hib grps running 8man yesterday. Problem solved regarding Hib rvr !

Lol @ people saying if you won't have fun with X amount of players, you won't have fun with 4k. I beg to differ, I played on Uth 1.0 NA with 400 people on and had a blast in 49 Thid and bgs, even when it was dead we had a place to go and fight with alts. Likewise had fun in Leirvik on genesis with 300 on. The problem is, even with 4k or 2k online in Uth 2.0, there's no fun like that to be had--and the population is going down. If there's no fz RvR going on here, there's little action/options. So if it's not fun for a lot of us now, what's it gonna be like when number continue to dip? Hence why so many people have voiced their opinions about making it better. Seeing numbers down to 700 or 800 in evening in NYC here.

Yes, the population is decreasing. It's a fact that no one can deny, but people tend to link their way of feeling their playing experience to this data. I don't say you're right or wrong but everything you're saying can't be proved unless we go deeper and make pool to have the feedback directly from the majority of the players (or at least a bigger panel).

The only thing I could say is that since Hib has 3 relics, we're seeing more and more hibs on RvR. At the same time, we're seeing less mids. That's my feeling - not saying that is the truth. And right now, my gaming experience is way better since Midgard is not destroying us as easily as before.

I do believe the main key to keep people on the game, and have a good retention is to make sure that everyone is challenged. When a realm is dominating the server it's not possible : it's boring for the first ones, frustrating for the second ones.

I don't want to troll but the new peak of decreasing population is related to the relics changes, maybe some mids don't like to be not as over-powerfull as they used to be. I do believe that now, the server is more balanced / more challenging FOR EVERYONE and my gaming experience is way better, even if Alb should have one more relic.

Carminae wrote:Yes, the population is decreasing. It's a fact that no one can deny, but people tend to link their way of feeling their playing experience to this data. I don't say you're right or wrong but everything you're saying can't be proved unless we go deeper and make pool to have the feedback directly from the majority of the players (or at least a bigger panel).

The only thing I could say is that since Hib has 3 relics, we're seeing more and more hibs on RvR. At the same time, we're seeing less mids. That's my feeling - not saying that is the truth. And right now, my gaming experience is way better since Midgard is not destroying us as easily as before.

I do believe the main key to keep people on the game, and have a good retention is to make sure that everyone is challenged. When a realm is dominating the server it's not possible : it's boring for the first ones, frustrating for the second ones.

I don't want to troll but the new peak of decreasing population is related to the relics changes, maybe some mids don't like to be not as over-powerfull as they used to be. I do believe that now, the server is more balanced / more challenging FOR EVERYONE and my gaming experience is way better, even if Alb should have one more relic.

To sort of counter your point, my friends and guildmates were all Mid, and they quit while Mid was still dominating and there was well over 3k people on. So I don't think population in the grand scheme of things had to do with Relics or people being obsessed with data. It has to do with the a large combination of things the server lacks, QoL stuff, better XP bonuses, active BGs, etc. (However I'm sure you may be right that a few people were probably discouraged recently, but that's not likely a large reason.)

Bill Cosby wrote:gonna jump, in and say most fun I ever had in daoc was molvik

second was thid on a 24 ranger week labyrinth of the minotaur was released

many cowtards died that day

You never played big boy RvR or you didn't enjoy big boy RvR?

I miss new frontiers. The option to see where are battles, the option to port fast to the frontier and the bridge fights. Emain gets old very fast and its to small. Without a bard you don't need to start to get there. New frontiers helped the smaller groups and solos to have fun as well. I know this is uthgard but as we can see, the people start to leave and its not only the sunny weather outside which drops the numbers.

Borondir wrote:I miss new frontiers. The option to see where are battles

Thats part of the change the news post talks about. You get kill messages with locs to locate action which is at least on same level of what NF offered. Also NF didn't have global visible kill messages. I'm not sure what else you had in mind to "see where are battles". The Herald warmap will have its comeback too btw.

Blue wrote:

Borondir wrote:I miss new frontiers. The option to see where are battles

Thats part of the change the news post talks about. You get kill messages with locs to locate action which is at least on same level of what NF offered. Also NF didn't have global visible kill messages. I'm not sure what else you had in mind to "see where are battles". The Herald warmap will have its comeback too btw.

I guess he wanted the 'swords' back, the size of the swords on the map showed how big was the fight so you could see if it was a zerg, smallman or just a 8'man

Good changes btw

jenskamen wrote:Im having fun everyday... solo, smalman and 8man pugs.

that makes 1 of us

I for my part almost cannot follow my normal chat/combatlog anymore because of these huge amounts of killspawn, as soon as I enter a rvr zone...seriously if we would still be 4k players, there woulnt be the space to accommodate even a third of them