Lockout system is a failure and some people takes advantage of it

[culland]

I think most folks views on xrealming often are just based on ignorance of the ebb and flow of the game's population and when most of the impactful leaders are playing. Keeping in mind if you have less than a 100 on each side, it doesnt take much for AAO to drastically flip.

There are some leaders that will 'take a break' the moment there is any opposition and will immediately form when the fight turns in their favor. There are a lot of players that pay attention to when certain guilds/leaders are running and will login when they do, or switch from afk to active at that time. And yes some folks will switch factions based on who is leading. IMO it is these things cause the wild swings in the population, more so than deliberate xrealming, though I am sure it happens to some extent.

In the particular case I agree the guild is doing it deliberately. The question is given we know that is what they are doing, why do folks keep going along with it?

[Amakusa]

Is the guildname "some guild" already taken?
Devs cant fix players ;p

[Amakusa]

Where is "some guild" when you need em xD

OPs wet dream ;P

[Hyas]

Important topic – thanks to the thread starter for bringing it up.

Over the past few days, I've read several posts claiming that certain players or warbands only switch sides to create fair fights. That portrayal does not match my experience at all. And it's not "some" people abusing it, the lockout system forces the whole gameplay in a wrong direction.

I only play Order, and for weeks I've regularly been facing 100–200% AAO. At the same time, I see many organized warbands playing on whichever side is currently stronger. In my opinion, those groups often have an interest in keeping the opposing faction trapped in the warcamp and farming RR/HR as efficiently as possible. Balanced numbers or serious keep sieges only get in the way of that goal.

As soon as someone actually tries to take a keep—for example by spawning a ram—they are sometimes met with heavy criticism. Insults, personal attacks, or even deliberate sabotage of other players' efforts follow. I think many Order PUG players have had similar experiences: organized warbands switch factions as soon as a siege is about to happen, deliberately refuse to participate, or knowingly let their own side fail so that the usual warcamp farming can continue. It doesn't surprise me that you hardly see any crowns on the Order side anymore—many players are simply tired of dealing with this kind of behavior.

What surprises me even more is the claim that this supposedly only involves a group of six to twelve players. According to that logic, three PUG warbands can only win because of them and immediately start losing the moment those players switch factions. That simply doesn't fit with the reality of 100–200% AAO. It would also mean that an entire PUG warband is worth no more than two to four players from an organized warband.

What makes this especially contradictory is that the very same person claims my PUG is basically worthless—that it would take three full PUG warbands to lose against those six to twelve organized players. Yet in LotD, I'm suddenly told that I can't move even a single step away from the zerg because my PUG would supposedly cost the entire faction the map. So which is it? Either my PUG has virtually no impact, or it's important enough that my actions can decide the outcome. It can't be both.

I can only speak from the Order perspective. From what I've seen, a small group of players is trying to dictate how the majority is supposed to play. Anyone who doesn't go along with it is quickly insulted or ridiculed. My ignore list has certainly grown considerably over the past few weeks.

My suggestions:

Limit faction switching to once every 48 hours.
If you choose Order or Destruction, you stay on that faction for 48 hours. Only after that period can you switch again. This would make deliberate faction hopping much more difficult.

Rework the AAO system.
Instead of rewarding the outnumbered faction with a bonus, reduce the rewards for the overpopulated faction accordingly. That would make warcamp farming with overwhelming numbers far less profitable while creating a genuine incentive for players to distribute themselves more evenly between both factions.

So far.

Cretur
The Pink Priest