Patch Notes 28/01/2022

[cleanharry030]

What always seems to be lacking in these discussions is what are we actually after?

What is the goal of lockouts?

And before you say "To stop crossrealming" - that is clearly not the case. The game in more ways than one encourages crossrealming and it even overtly rewards a +50% exp/rr bonus for one hour if you crossrealm to the less populated realm. Crossrealming isn't seen as a problem, or otherwise this reward would not be in place.

Formulating goals clearly is of great importance, and something that is often forgotten in discussions like these.

So I ask you: what is the purpose of lockouts?

And when we find that purpose, we should consider that there may be other ways of achieving it. Right now I think people are completely stuck in a tunnel vision when it comes to lockout timers, which are the most brute force/anti-fun/unelegant way of solving this.

This guy is making too much sense, stop him! /jk

Back on topic

Lets say for the sake of argument that the groups of players chasing AAO do not exist like most Xrealm conspiracy theorists claim. The only people changing realms over the course of a campaign/day would be selfish players looking to pvdoor to gear their next toon.

What would a increased lockout timer achieve "fighting" this behaviour ? I think they would just log off and wait for the tide to turn while the faction they wanted to join will do just what they wanted to participate in: pvdoor.

The real issue is how detached players are allowed to be from group play. If your goal as a player is to gear X amount of characters then no lockout is going to prevent that it will just lead to those people playing less. As long as running boxes and pushing your personal bag roll in zones is more profitable than grouping up and chasing AAO no lockout timer could change that. It would only slow down the pace at which these players will achieve their goals.

On the topic of realm balance in general I think people forgot the weekends of KV or BC before zones would reset after 8 hours. Perfect balance at all times is as undesirable as 100+ AAO situations. But that's an inherent issue of two faction pvp games.

For me personally nothing would change with an extended lockout except that I would have to plan my groups/warbands further ahead of time and if we still end up on the dominating side, despite preferring to play for underdog, we would just log off.

[Xirucio]

Lol at trying to fix a zerg by design rvr campaign with lookouts

The lockouts will stabilize the server population in time, just like in any other game that locks you to a faction or server, or server&faction or whatever.
People will join a faction that it resonates more with their history as a Rpg - Mmorpg gamer and stick to it. Just like in any other game that locks you from the beginning.
It's actually...normal.

[Sulorie]

Lol at trying to fix a zerg by design rvr campaign with lookouts

The lockouts will stabilize the server population in time, just like in any other game that locks you to a faction or server, or server&faction or whatever.
People will join a faction that it resonates more with their history as a Rpg - Mmorpg gamer and stick to it. Just like in any other game that locks you from the beginning.
It's actually...normal.

When your side already outnumbers the enemy, what players on dominant side are supposed to do? Keep doing pvdoor? Do PvE? Wait endlessly for SC pops? Maybe you just log off - actually the least wanted option in a MMO.

[Xirucio]

Lol at trying to fix a zerg by design rvr campaign with lookouts

The lockouts will stabilize the server population in time, just like in any other game that locks you to a faction or server, or server&faction or whatever.
People will join a faction that it resonates more with their history as a Rpg - Mmorpg gamer and stick to it. Just like in any other game that locks you from the beginning.
It's actually...normal.

When your side already outnumbers the enemy, what players on dominant side are supposed to do? Keep doing pvdoor? Do PvE? Wait endlessly for SC pops? Maybe you just log off - actually the least wanted option in a MMO.

Definitely not play the percentage games on the forums and become stuck in a 10% variation give or take, between factions.
This supposedly epitome of ethics and conduit that x-realming should be it's an illusion, because humans are driven by rewards and in the case of video-games this rewards are extrinsic. So, the real applicability of the x-realming comes in a form of selfish gearing multiple toons across both factions.
The option of changing faction it's at the core of numbers instability at times. I mean, it's the tool that makes it possible LOL.
But as i said, the lockout will naturally stabilize the population...in time.

[Valkeera]

It would be fun if the xrealm lockout would be in the form like, you play in rvr on one side for a while, then you can log to the other side but when you enter any rvr lake again on that other side, you turn into a chicken. But preventing people from logging to the other side for a long period will damage the enjoyment of the game for many people. It's just not worth it just for the sake of a few xrealming guild derps.

[heybaws]

The lockouts will stabilize the server population in time, just like in any other game that locks you to a faction or server, or server&faction or whatever.
People will join a faction that it resonates more with their history as a Rpg - Mmorpg gamer and stick to it. Just like in any other game that locks you from the beginning.
It's actually...normal.

When your side already outnumbers the enemy, what players on dominant side are supposed to do? Keep doing pvdoor? Do PvE? Wait endlessly for SC pops? Maybe you just log off - actually the least wanted option in a MMO.

Definitely not play the percentage games on the forums and become stuck in a 10% variation give or take, between factions.
This supposedly epitome of ethics and conduit that x-realming should be it's an illusion, because humans are driven by rewards and in the case of video-games this rewards are extrinsic. So, the real applicability of the x-realming comes in a form of selfish gearing multiple toons across both factions.
The option of changing faction it's at the core of numbers instability at times. I mean, it's the tool that makes it possible LOL.
But as i said, the lockout will naturally stabilize the population...in time.

For how long we gonna pretend that losing side not getting rewards? All kind of bags with exact same rewards are distributed to outnumbered players. This easy rewards thing doesnt fir the reality, because by taking empty keeps you not earning enough contribution to gear up consistently. On the other hand, building a gank group or going solo with aao and just scoring kills will get you there faster.

[Xirucio]

^Yes, but it's easier to simply change faction and hide inside a PuG group. It's a more convenient behavior that probably automatize itself, giving how easy is to jump to the winning side.

[heybaws]

^Yes, but it's easier to change to the winning faction and just join a PuG group. It's a more convenient behavior that probably became automatic, giving how easy is to jump on the winning side.

As i mentioned already surfing through empty zones will not give you much contri. So according to you people switching on easy side and going pug warband while getting nothing for it.. Where is the issue?

[Grobi00F]

^Yes, but it's easier to change to the winning faction and just join a PuG group. It's a more convenient behavior that probably became automatic, giving how easy is to jump on the winning side.

As i mentioned already surfing through empty zones will not give you much contri. So according to you people switching on easy side and going pug warband while getting nothing for it.. Where is the issue?

Zone contribution doesnt matter when you can surf the Zerg to City/Fort in a span of 2h.

[Xirucio]

^Yes, but it's easier to change to the winning faction and just join a PuG group. It's a more convenient behavior that probably became automatic, giving how easy is to jump on the winning side.

As i mentioned already surfing through empty zones will not give you much contri. So according to you people switching on easy side and going pug warband while getting nothing for it.. Where is the issue?

Let's not put it in this dichotomic, absolutist view. Players will not change factions with the purpose of sailing this empty zones, but they will do it when they have a subjective sense of loosing in RvR so they will change sides, only to make one side even more powerful instead of remaining to the initial side and attempt to contribute to a sense of balance.
This is only possible, because ...x-realming.