Why do we need 24 identical shards with only 2-3 having somewhat healthy playerbases?
I know this will probably start some controversy because its a sensitive topic but I think it warrants a discussion at least. For the record I am not suggesting we shut down any servers or anything overly drastic but why not take 2 of the lowest populated shards like Lake Austin and Balhae and try something that some players have wanted for a long time. Why not convert these shards into a pure trammel ruleset shard it seems to me like it would be an easy thing to change and if it potentially brought players back or made others happy to be able to do champion spawns then whats the harm in trying? I kind of feel this game should be doing more to try to accommodate all players and I constantly see new topics about people wanting powerscrolls in trammel or trammel only shards so why not take 2 of the existing shards and try something different for once?
Keep character transfers open allow players to come and go as they please.
Make all power scrolls (on specific shards) shard bound which has already been done for the Khaldun event.
Disable felucca only bonuses.
Only PvP would be from VvV.
Maybe I am overlooking something but I don't see any harm in trying this and if it has the potential to bring any player back or make some current players happy then why not go for it? I am honestly trying to find a drawback to this so if you have arguments against it I would love to hear them.
If people wanted to transfer there to farm scrolls for their pets / characters then transfer off then I would wish them the best of luck. Because getting 6 scrolls per spawn with other random players showing up would take ages to do any significant amount of farming.
In my opinion it's time the development team start rolling the dice and changing things up when they can. I get frustrated when I see seemingly easy opportunities for the game to improve and nothing ever changes for the better sticking to the status quo is not working.
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Would also welcome you selling scrolls cheap on Atl, the currently high prices only benefit a minority of people but harm a lot of peaceful players.
I'm sure that would be more of a blast then 10 EM events combined. Good proposal to make a step forward. Just it wont happen.
I ain't doin' that. I don't want to rebuild and outfit characters over and over again in order to take part in EM events on other shards. Or even to scare up a group to go on a hunt with. But I don't see why it wouldn't be a healthy thing, promoting more group play, if we were able to jump to other shards with ease, using developed characters from our home shard.
I don't get your idea about making all Trammel all the time shards, PureLife. Why? If you're going to make it easier for players to interact with players from other shards why wouldn't we want it to be easier for PvPers to interact as well?
If we can breathe life into the game by making it easier for larger pools of players to get together in a more impromptu and quicker fashion why shouldn't we? Why wouldn't we? I can see where shard message boards would become more important to watch to see if there's an event to take part in, etc.
I know the Transfer Tokens and vet gift shields are a big deal. Maybe it's all about those. If moving goods around, which is already done by those means, is an issue if done outside those means, then place restrictions on characters that transfer by other means.
Coveted Power Scrolls seems like a PITA to me. It always seems to be what blocks what could be otherwise interesting and innovative ideas.
So the losing side got about 12 people killed multiple times and played for hours with 0 reward. Ofcourse some of them were just doing it for pvp, but others were raging when they got killed.
Free shard movement even if all power scrolls were shard bound is the elephant in the room.
Eat a shard bound scroll and you are shard bound.
Same for your pet.
And who said anything about making it easer. We just don't want to deal with PvP.
As for Mervyn's fight story. Do you want to bet the ones not doing it (if any) for the PvP thought about quitting and not coming back. And people wonder why we can't attract players.
As far as your suggestion (which is not part of the OP) to then make the character shard bound, that line of logic fails:
A. Create a shard whose only realistic difference is easily obtainable power scrolls
B. Allow character transfers
C. Restrict character transfers for any character who uses the power scrolls for which the special shard was created.
If players want a tram only shard, I have no objection. However, shards with special rule sets shouldn’t interact with standard production shards.
Lol, I'd love to see population pushed closer together. People transfer to these dead shards to accomplish tasks without anyone seeing. Power scroll farming is just one of those things, but maybe the most damning, as it kills PvP, kills the economy for them, and the like. Like it or not power scrolls were the one big ticket item to PvP over left since trammel was introduced (which is where the "I need access to content without my playstyle intermingling with others" came from), and the pet revamp was the big amazing unintended powerscrolls revamp the game needed. It would of enhanced PvP to a great level not seen in a long time. However, people had massive stockpiles of scrolls from years of not having much use for them to flood the initial market, and the market has continued to be flooded by the people who sit on dead shards farming them. As much as many ppl hated the concept, PvP over power scrolls kept that market thriving, and would of prolonged it. It's already within 2 years reached the total stale point of everyone has all they need again and more because the supply was not kept in check.
For example, can you imagine if shadowguard was in some way a fought over fel ruleset and the artifacts obtained across the board were shard bound? An item like anon boots wouldn't be worth 2m I can tell ya that.
Maybe that's the answer in many cases. Make everything of importance shard bound. Sell a shard transfer token in the store that lets you transfer up to 20 shard bound items at a time. Either it brings population even closer together or it breaths life into forgotten shards.
It's not as though you can't get any Power Scrolls you want for $30 or less from WWW.$$$$$.com
Edit: Just checked no PS priced over $20 most around $2 I AM NOT SUGGESTING ANYONE CHEAT but that is reality.
and the other fel only, for when everyone who joined the tram shard realises why playing in tram only really sucks.
Nobody will log on the other shards, as they'll have no reason to, then they can delete them.
Oh did I hit a nerve?
You would think I suggested again they remove PS and kill someone's money making scam.
(or make them shard bound or take them out of Fel or well just about anything that kills that business)
Is there a connection?
PS Yes I do think buying from the web IS cheating. But it's just a game and who doesn't cheat at solitary?
Haven't Mesanna and ALL the developers of the past said adamantly "we are not shutting down any shards?"
If it were up to me, I'd just bite the bullet and pick the four to six least populated shards. Give every character a non-transferable shard-bound transfer token and a moving crate then allow 365 days to move off. Every player who owns a castle gets a deed to place a castle in Malas.
Any historical monuments could be petitioned to be moved off. If not, well, take some screenshots.
There is just absolutely no good way to shut down a shard without pissing a lot of players off.