How are things with the ROR community?

[speler]

Hi everyone. I'm a new player looking for an MMO with good PVP action and which won't just disappear because the publisher decided it's no longer profitable, and I intend to give ROR a good try. So now I'm waiting for an interminable amount of time for my login info to sync with the server ("Invalid username/password"; not what I'm here to ask about though). I'm not in a rush and in the mean time I've been wondering...

How is the ROR community doing in general? Things like: What is the size of the player base? How evenly are players spread over the world? Is the community growing? Do the admins/devs seem to be coping well? Is there healthy flow of information from community to/from admins/devs? What treatment can newbies expect? Is it a pleasant community to be part of? (that last one might seem silly to ask, but it's important to me and I find asking a community about itself can give some interesting insights)

If the questions seem vague, that's intentional. Just want to learn more about ROR's people.

[wargrimnir]

You might need to use a more simple password. That function seems to be weird at times.

[Eathisword]

Things like: What is the size of the player base?

Peak time sees about 600-700 nowadays. Max peak was last summer with 1000+ players. Good action starts at 400-500 mark. 1000 is freaking epic.

How evenly are players spread over the world?

Almost everyone plays at max level only now. Slowly some incentives are implemented so more people play in the lower level zone with their maxed out character. A process called debolstering.

Is the community growing?

No. And yes. The number of player has been pretty even for months now. But a lot of people are new to WAR. Back in time a few years and 100% of the player base was old WAR player. In my book, this is good. New people are joining.

Do the admins/devs seem to be coping well?

Some better than others. There has been a good replacement rate for staff leaving, which is positive as new perspective has been added. Tbh, unless you plan on being a total ********, self-entitled moron, most of the staff are great people that will treat you fairly.

Is there healthy flow of information from community to/from admins/devs?

Yes. The level of information we get beats what you can expect in even some ptp mmo. And those guys are doing it on their free time. GMs are generally helpful, again, unless you plan on being a self-entitled moron.

What treatment can newbies expect?

Somewhat good help. Lots of very active, very good member will answer question. And then, like in all the internet we have some bloody moronic trolls. Ask if you have questions, you'll most likely get 3 reasonable answer for every stupid troll attempt.

Is it a pleasant community to be part of? (that last one might seem silly to ask, but it's important to me and I find asking a community about itself can give some interesting insights)

Depends on what you like. If you like bragging about how magnificent your WoW 3300 rating was, no one will care. the age average here, is probably 10-20 years older than most games i played. If you like talking about beer in a roleplaying manner, you'll find some mates to do it every hour of the day.

If you need help, you'll find some. Here are some testament of player organized events :
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19019&hilit=giveaway
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=18883&hilit=giveaway
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=18001&hilit=giveaway

There, you have it !

Cheers, roll a dwarf, smash some faces !

[Dreadspectre]

I hope he was asking about EU player base and not NA.

NA is a different beast entirely. I've rarely seen more than 260 total players after like 7PM CST. Sad days, I envy those across the pond

[CegeePegee]

As far as server population, I can't speak to EU prime time numbers but NA has been having some good numbers recently, at least on the nights I've been playing, so it feels like it's been slowly increasing.

[Eathisword]

I hope he was asking about EU player base and not NA.

NA is a different beast entirely. I've rarely seen more than 260 total players after like 7PM CST. Sad days, I envy those across the pond

Well it is 7 pm eastern NY now, and there are 450 players on, on a Monday. Not so bad. It is very much lower than europe peaks though. You are correct on that. I thankfully can play both xD

[Glorian]

Yes Password Synctime takes its time. Also make sure to dont use special symbols in it. That sometimes leads to .... problems.

Also the edge to get in game is a little bit more higher than AoR in the past. The Devs need to split coding time and support on the same persons. So people who dont read the stickies or see the installation videos and have the same install errors which are known by almost everyone in the forum are not spoonfeed by the devs.

So when you read the forum the answers of the devs seems sometimes a little flappy or not really customer care like. But they are decent chumps, and when there is a bug, that you describe thoroughly and put it on the bugtracker, not in the forum, then they fix it.

I worked most of my addult live in the IT Support, and nothing is more frustrating than a bug report that reads like: "Nothing on Chopper works, fix it."

Also if you are stuck and doublestuck doesn't help, if you ask nicely they will help. Treat them like human beings, or like league organizers in your local gaming club. Instead of playing they spend time so that you can play.

So my answer is a lot on the devs, and yes they communicate ingame and mostly through the news threads or the patchnotes. Also they listen to the community, which doesnt mean that they react to it instantly.

I'm writing most of this because most newcommers are a little bit reddit or 4chan or twitter triggered where you can throw **** at someones head and no real reaction is expected than maybe someone else will talk **** to you back.

This Server is the Treehouse they have build. And they throw a three year nonestop party where everyone can join in. But if you break the rules or scream at them because the beer is out expect them to react to their own ruleset.

Also I stronly advise to read the Terms of Service.
Multiboxing, or anti AFK scripts lead to your character whipe and account deleted. And you will be banned. Meaning if you come back with another account they will find that out and delete that too.

I'm not writing it to scare you off. The Devs here take this seriously. And it feels good to roam through a forum were personal attacks are forbidden and racist talk burned out imediately. It is like the Internet should be.

...and yes, roll a dwarf with a dwarven name and join a decent dwarf guild.

[Jaycub]

The mainstream RoR community is really friendly, pg13 etc... though due in part by strict moderation which will either be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences.

If you are looking for something different each guild has its own atmosphere and with everyone using discord these days you can pretty much just go read a week's worth of those open channels and get an idea of what you are getting into.

EU has always been pretty healthy, NA supports 6man and small scale play well enough, but I've never seen two concurrent full organized warbands on each side.

As for the devs the original team was nothing short of incredible, 2? Key devs washed out now and this upcoming patcher and next few patch cycles the new leadership should be proving themselves one way or the other. There's of course always going to be private server staff x community drama, but I've been here 2 years and never seen anything that wasn't justified by the rules you agree too, just follow the rules and keep to yourself if you can't, the GM's aren't going to go out of their way to mess with you even if you are on their shitlist I would of been gone long ago otherwise.

[Eathisword]

...and yes, roll a dwarf with a dwarven name and join a decent dwarf guild.

You's got a problem with ma name Pappy ? /toast.

3rd Bitterstone are the epitome of a great community. Gotta give em that. Although their beer taste funny.

[Darosh]

I wanna add to this:

What treatment can newbies expect?

Somewhat good help. Lots of very active, very good member will answer question. And then, like in all the internet we have some bloody moronic trolls. Ask if you have questions, you'll most likely get 3 reasonable answer for every stupid troll attempt.

If you happen to ask a question in /advice, make sure to state that you are a new player - it'll greatly reduce the amount of shitposting, people basicly snap into a reasonable mode.
But be aware, people will at times engage in vivid discussions about the topic you brought up, so make sure you don't take every answer at face value.
Your best bet in regards to questions concerning mechanics, math and competitive play are the forums, most of the more sophisticated players (e.g.: our Lord and Savior, Volgo) are active on here, while the average shitposter is lingering in and littering the /advice chat with hear-say regarding mechanics, convoluted theories and realmbashing (e.g.: class x is better than class y; realm x is better than realm y - "don't bother doing x, y or z because it didn't work for me whilst pugging") - all of which is happening on here too, to some degree, but its easier tell apart.

Embrace the grumpyness ~

Make sure you check the realm forums to pick up a guild/group, WAR is best played with company and atleast some level of organization. Have fun and best of luck!