Wondering about population issues

[Sledgehammerz]

Hi all,

I was just simply wondering, triggered by the upcoming event, whether population issues can be explained in a different way.

First of all, i love this game, and hopefully this game will exist for a very long time to come, as there is nothing i would like to play more than Warhammer.

I normally played on Destro side, played sorc and dok mostly, with mostly European guys and guilds.
To learn to understand and know my opponent better, i now created my equivalents on Order side, the BW and WP.
And I now encountered that i play mostly with North American guys and guilds.
This would mean that what i have seen lately, that Order is mostly having NA based players and Destro more European based (not 1 on 1 i guess, but i say mostly, like 60-40 mostly)

Due to sickness i have been able to login at different times of the day and see what is happening.
All do ofcause understand the time difference between the USA and EU. 6 (or even more hours) behind EU.

This would mean that when Destro comes online, lets say from 18:00 in the afternoon (European time), it is 12:00 in the USA. At this time, destro seems to outnumber order side. The NA are mostly working or in school at this time.
When it then gets around 15:00 in the USA, the US players come online, and between 21:00 European time/15:00 US time it seems pretty much to me that there is a balance in numbers for the next 2 hours.
Then it becomes like 23:00 in europe (17:00 US time), destro starts to log out, and now order gets the overhand and outnumber destro side.

I really experienced that steamrolling zergs, AAO, facing hard premades etc occur on both sides, all depending on the time when you log in.



For the upcoming event where T2-T4 are merged i do have a little concern. First of all, the intentions are very good, but i am also wondering how it would be for a lvl 16, while missing 3 tactics and half of your spells, to face a full trained lvl 40. And i am not even talking about the RR the lvl 40 might have in comparison to the level 16...Because bolstering to lvl 40 is one thing, missing your tactics and half of your spells is something completely different. If this happens, this might frighten lower levels off to continue playing, which i would find a pitty.

In combination with my earlier observation about NA and EU based players, it will be hard to solve population issues?

Or am i really wrong in this? I am just very much wondering. Please comment to clear my curiosity

[Hargrim]

For the upcoming event where T2-T4 are merged i do have a little concern. First of all, the intentions are very good, but i am also wondering how it would be for a lvl 16, while missing 3 tactics and half of your spells, to face a full trained lvl 40. And i am not even talking about the RR the lvl 40 might have in comparison to the level 16...Because bolstering to lvl 40 is one thing, missing your tactics and half of your spells is something completely different. If this happens, this might frighten lower levels off to continue playing, which i would find a pitty.

R16 player can be bolstered to R80 if needed. Currently the mid tiers are frightened of boredom and I'm sure it is far worst than R40 oposite realm warband.

Also, R40RR40 unorganized player, group of such or even a warband of same is the same cannon fodder for organized players as R16s without half of skills or tactics. Nothing changes here, organized kills unorganized.

About the population - it might be the way you paint it, but does it change anything? We need more players in all time zones, that's the only solution I see.

[anarchypark]

i guess r40 can't kill 2 r16.
or not more than 3 r16.

[Jaycub]

population declines in most game usually by 3 ways

1. barrier to entry
2. terrible gameplay
3. terrible/nonexistent endgame

You fix 1 by making it fun and smooth, or by removing the grind to get to the "real" game. Some like myself would define that as 40/40 full anni/merc.

2 is self explanatory I think

3. Is what kills games like GW2, here we all remember the endgame but as of now it's just a massive grind attacking keeps over and over again for a chance at bags, and 0.0001% of the medals you need for conq/dom gear.

NA players get bored of dead zones or trying to get to t4 (which is pretty dead too). EU players probably quit more because of lack of endgame or enthusiasm for it's grind.

Boredom with the game can also be curtailed a bit through rerolling alts, but the recent crippling of powerleveling is going to make that impossible for most imo. If the lower tiers were ghost towns you could also just get pled to T4. And on live you just got a friend to apprentice you.


Still love this game, and even this upcoming event have an entire 6 man of level 16's ready for Friday to see how good the bolster is.

[dansari]

Overall, just think of it as a test. The dev team isn't blind. If the lower levels aren't bolstered enough, they'll tweak. I, for one, am excited to band together everyone and just have some fun. It will certainly be a change of pace from the current t4 zone stalemates for 4 hours.

[Hargrim]

Overall, just think of it as a test. The dev team isn't blind. If the lower levels aren't bolstered enough, they'll tweak. I, for one, am excited to band together everyone and just have some fun. It will certainly be a change of pace from the current t4 zone stalemates for 4 hours.

Technically 1 session in T4 zone currently averages to ~2h after timers reduction.

[dansari]

Here comes Hargrim with his "statistics" and "facts!" Can't exaggerate anything anymore!