Return of Reckoning

Oh well, while I'm still convinced that mass cross-realming with serious impact to zone balance is a myth, and furthermore trust in the developers finding a solution for it, why not just implement a lock and see if it changes anything? I honesly doubt it, the only thing that will change is the people's excuses.

Fortunately I won't have to repeat the points about the mechanics and problems of implementing a lockout on here as there they are, so...
I always supported (and practiced, as far as PvP goes at least) a short, 1-2 hour lockout. I honestly think that such a time would prevent the kind of crossrealming people complain about (switching for rewards/an easier fight), and anything beyond 4 hours is pointless and simply punishes people for wanting access to content from both sides with only a single server available. (A reminder that lockout, at least for me, means you have to stay logged off, meaning you'll miss 1-2 hours of fight if you want to switch.) Having to spend 1-2 hours away from the game will mean there's a degree of uncertainty when you make the decision to start switching as you can't know for sure what will happen in the game 'till you can come back. Also, you'll miss a good chunk of the peak population time when the biggest RvR fights happen. Unless you have guildies etc in the game who have some out-of-game way to talk to you in which case no amount of lockout will make much of a difference.

wotmud has/had a 5/30 mins rule, not coded but enforced by Imms with possible zap to level 1 if not respected.

5 mins wait to switch alts same side
30 mins wait to switch alts different side

I think the devs already commented that they have been working on a solution, it's just not easy to code.

There should be no limit on switching your current realm. You take a negative effect for loss of building rewards for zone locks. Nothing should prohibit guildmates switching roles to better perform for their RvR, SC or PVE group or even crafters.

30 mins for different sides seems reasonable. Long enough to deter, short enough to respectably just want to play something else.

All this is nice and well but what's stoping people from making 2 accounts? it's not like you have any benefit from having your order and destro characters on the same account since you can't email or interact with them in any way.

Well as it looks devs will give iniatives for ppl to stay at underpopulated side so 2 accounts wont matter. So somehow xrealming will be even wanted effect but only to underpopulated realm

It is somehow sad cos realm pride is something that should matter but that is life with one alpha server

This as always been a tricky topic, because of so many variables and hard to police fairly (time zones being a major part)

I know we use to be the AAO police for awhile(yet was still accused of zerging/xrealming/finding the easier fights etc because thats what people do when they have no idea how things really was)... we use to dominate and people swap sides or log out = ghost town = no enemy = no fight = zzzzz = no reward ... so what is the alternative besides also logging out = zzz. It's all about maximising action, and the best action available... winning fights where you are 2:1 ratio in favour can never be described as good action. It should be automatic/default victory via keyboard faceroll.

so we put ourselves in a more unique position to be able to swap back and forth if it was required... did i do it to troll? never, i had some principles of when and how to use it and only did so reluctantly (change from our high geared RR destro WB to our lowbie filler wb on order), yes it would of been easy to troll both sides with almost guaranteed never ending fight. But usually it was fresh zones or if AAO was out of hand / no challenge, and would also tend to inform nrm or cntk in advance. Fighting over scraps was never fun or fair when you massively outnumbered someone.

I know some people would not share similar principles and game the system to maximise their own reward/time/effort/fun and make the problem worse/snowball. It's hard to place blame though because it is their time and it what it is, some people don't like getting farmed and creates the cat and mouse problem but to each their own.

The issue is the easy mode/casual nature issue (both likes to zerg and complain about other when shoe is on other foot) it's really a community/player issue... the amount of people who want easy rewards for minimum effort far outweighs the people who prefer to play for challenge/underdog... so people give up easily / ride coatails of others if they get momentum. Just the fun merry go round that is eternal war

There is little guild pride, so realm pride can't be expected, especially where both sides have each had sometimes toxic elements is asking alot. Especially pre city wars and the need for even higher co-ordination.

I hope the new system works out and doesn't punish those who like to side with underdog.

But if there is no x-realming what will people complain about next and use as a excuse?

I think its mostly a perception and psychological issue. Timezone's dont help, morale and weak leadership don't help... you nail a pug wb a few times, either leader ragequits or gets abandoned by his troops... nobody else wants to step up and lead, creates a partial void... if nobody else comes along, steps up and fills this then puts more pressure on the rest of that realms forces until they break or something drastic happens to turn momentum. If people think the zone will be easy lock they will ironically try harder(casual nature)... if its bit of stalemate, unless semi organised forces are spear heading it one side will eventually get tired and give up unless they have a stubborn leader. Seen it happen alot, people ultimately play how they want and you have to work around it.

I will add a crazy idea which i know you guys will dislike because you want people to grind hard ...

but if population balance is what you desire... there are some roadblocks (and yeah i know they could be gamed) but if they was removed, while your system and giving incentives to underdog to make it worthwhile... then maybe it would be less lopsided.

if there was a option to make instant end game characters for people who just want to t4... and yes i know its not hard to get to lvl 16 and the rest of it for experienced player, but going from decent geared t4 / high rr, to lowbie's can be pretty rough grind if organised and carried, for pug casual even harder... so they are a bit time locked/gated into effort to make it viable if they really really want to try balance things out. Server is casual in nature so for most people that is just too much effort.

So if roadblock of leveling was removed partially out of the equation (like r40, rr 10 so people still need to play and learn it)... then it comes down to pure numbers, and splitting numbers between the two factions and getting the incentives for underdog that you are talking about to eliminate the "x realm" problem to try make orvr more balanced generally like sc's are. Just a wild idea that i will know be shot down, but food for thought if eliminate perception of x-realm is ultimate goal... if barriers was removed and carrot on stick was implemented. And yes i know the knock on effect of it effecting t3 sc's if more people could skip them (which are low already)... and the random pve, but it all depends on what is the bigger end goal.

So what kind of incentives for underpopulated realm are you talking about Wam?

As for decent gear characters - well, my PoV is this is harder, because people doesn't really want decent, they just want BiS ASAP.

Tis funny when I see this cross realm topic rear it's head. I have chars both sides, 90% of them spend 75% of their time in sc's or rolling t1 with friends. As for rvr rewards.. I've gotten more from the run about in AAO smacking down equal sized groups, not getting near the keeps, and more phat lootz being on the side that LOST the zone.
I've discussed some of these 'solutions' with a dev, in discord... and may have told him how easily bypassed they were on retail, which I discovered by accident after a patch and it was down to 2 servers NA, I wait to see what our talented team behind the scenes comes up with to end the crying 'xrealmers' and some other tawdry ranting in regional/general I've seen and people just accept, they aren't as good as they think.


P.S.
I think I'm a terribad, why are people even worse?

People crying about xrealm are delusional and just want to find a scapegoat for their own fails.

Any form of lockout timer will never stop the player from the realm who just got his ass whipped to be mad and log off the game or just leave to do something else, for example scenarios, pve farm, reroll. Thus reducing the loosing side population and making the winning side look bigger.

Crossrealm is not an issue, I think it's quite the contrary: to be able to crossrealm at will is something that keeps players playing this game. If you introduce some form of lockout to switch to alts, even from the same faction (!), then people getting spanked in rvr may not have an alternative to be beaten and will simply log off.