Observations and lessons learned?

[Bozzax]

Ok the lst couple of days has been "crazy" here are some observations that IMHO is worth saving from this experience.

There are no Order and Destro
Luth wrote: "There is no "destro" and "order", as it seems that 80% of the playerbase is actively x-realming"

... Spot on!

Players will do whatever tideous taask to get progression
PVE gear grind and the recent zerg train chain locking PVE-keeps showed that beyond a doubt.

Premades won't balance the realm
After one or two keep takes most joined the wining side.

One zone PVP with 650+ attacking a keep isn't very enjoyable
Just like 1.38 forts it was a AOE/Lagfest of epic proportions. First keep take was horrible several from our group DC:d and we used TS to coordinate AOE as screens wasn’t updating.

IMHO This needs to be taken into consideration when we discuss a RvR system for 1200-2000 players online.

Server performance is actually quite good
Damn I never thought we'd get this far after having participated in the first stress test.

Aza thanks for all the performance patches (I am amazed how good it actually worked )

[Nanji]

Those must be terrible premades then, mine would gladly join the underdogs.
Unfortunately though we are not x-realming.

[Tiggo]

to lag: did you experience lag at stk or in other zones or only at mandreds? i recall mandreds had a specific bug with lag.

[thullonse]

remove gear progression completly and replace it with another way to progress your character by playing actual pvp. if there was only a system already in this game that serves this purpose ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

[Vilhelmina]

Players will do whatever tideous taask to get progression
PVE gear grind and the recent zerg train chain locking PVE-keeps showed that beyond a doubt.

This will always be the case and will cause future dramas in the future if we don't deal with it. But it appears to me I'm in the minority, a large number of the players believe an MMO should always be about the grind!? That's where the fun is.

[Landaren]

x realming doesn't have to be a bad thing. Im working on getting guys together that will join the underdog side to help keep the server in balance.

Ultimately I just want to have decent fights no matter what side I'm playing on. It's the same reason we had two accounts on live and played on either side depending on who was dominating.

[thullonse]

Players will do whatever tideous taask to get progression
PVE gear grind and the recent zerg train chain locking PVE-keeps showed that beyond a doubt.

This will always be the case and will cause future dramas in the future if we don't deal with it. But it appears to me I'm in the minority, a large number of the players believe an MMO should always be about the grind!? That's where the fun is.

people forget why there are grinds in most games. mainly time investment = money in a subscription based game for the company. thats the only reason developers put a grind in their games. no sane person whos interested in a real pvp game will argue that its fun to have a gear grinding progress system available only to play on an even ground with everyone else. all it creates is that people want to get the best gear possible with the least amount of resistance. we've seen this when destro was 70/30. people will abuse everything possible to get what they want.

[Bozzax]

This will always be the case and will cause future dramas in the future if we don't deal with it. But it appears to me I'm in the minority, a large number of the players believe an MMO should always be about the grind!? That's where the fun is.

In the past I shared your opinion 100% but nowadays I think the feeling of achievement comes also from doing something that requires an effort.

Weird huh?
Consider that the server population is never as unhappy and bored as when everyone are maxed out.

Off topic:

Spoiler:

Back in the 90s I coded and played PvP MUDS (a lot). The most important lesson from that is that progression in a multi player PvP game never can be linear and capped.

What worked best was linear progression up to 70-80% of max and then exponential progression with no cap. Those who loved grind grinded, oh man how they grinded there was players with years of game time online. The trick was they never got the "I win button" just the satisfaction of being able to grind.

[Vilhelmina]

...stuff...

Well... I'm truly stuffed and I guess I'll just have to smile and wave as I join the rest of the sheeple in the never-ending grind for better stuff.

"Ooh look! An empty keep, happy joy joy."

"Woot! I got a shiney thing!!! Only 300 more and I can finally afford that item I'll long be over-levelled for."