Kilsin said:Server Selection - What do you look for when choosing a server to call home, potentially for many years to come, is there a process you follow or specific things you look for before deciding? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters
Server proximity, population, ruleset, but most importantly of all- I go with the guild. They are the family that trumps everything else. They are more important than anything else.
I look for roleplaying realms, if they are there. West coast, if possible.
At times, I have researched fan forums (roleplaying ones) and found out where some like minded people will land- then go to that server.
I also like special rulesets (ie. EQ Sullon Zek, Firiona Vie), especially if they make the game harder somehow. For instance, at first, the Firiona Vie server was limited to one character per account, and there was no "common' or "basic" language, only racial languages. I loved my time on that server.
Ruleset is number one for me because of how much PvP can alter your play experience.
Second most important is, if the information is available via posts or whatnot, to find a server without large " power guilds " starting on them. Back in the day alot of guilds would have an agreement/rotation that dictated nights they would raid open world bosses. That isn't the case with many of these kinds of guilds. Also many "power guilds" have a "this is our spawn/zone" mentatlity and the people to back said mentality. So I would like to pick a server that has a lower chance of having them on it. I don't mind when great guilds form from the community, but pre-established big guilds don't form from the game's community, and enough of them don't play well with others often enough that I would prefer less exposure them.
Roleplay servers I prefer because in theory there is a lower chance of not playing with someone who thinks RotfCopter ( or something similar ) is an acceptable name for their fantasy character.
Location, preferred is East Coast if possible because my friends and I live there.
From there my friends and I go by name of the server. Nothing special about it ahead of time usually, just what name we like.
Usually name related to game lore attracts me...I'll make a newbie and find out which guilds are already occupying, if it is a guild with a bad rep..I'll leave. :) If I join with my guild and that guild is already there...well then I usually "suck it up buttercup" and just avoid those people when possible. lol But lore related names will beckon to me..and I don't say that because I am a roleplayer, did alot of that over the years, just find lore related names more appealing. :)
Cana
Jabir said:European timezone, English language, PvE only, current population count.
I agree with Jabir here, I'ld just put Roleplaying Server between PvE only and population count.
Time zone is fundamental .
I always make my main on a European TZ server and my alt on an Australian TZ server . During the week ends I like to play in the morning so I play on an Australian server and during the week I play in the evening so on a European server .
Second is that if there is a n RP PvE option, I always take the RP option . I found out that the community on RP servers is generally (alas not always) more helpful and social than on non RP servers . On some RP servers (I specifically remember Lotro) people actually even role play :)
Roleplay for me, not typically because I do roleplay, but because I like the player maturity that usually exists on them. And, probably most importantly, with Brad-developed games, they usually have a great ruleset which, with EQ, contained keypoints such as follows:
I'd play on a server like that again for Pantheon in a heartbeat - the only point I wasn't a huge fan of was the trivial loot code, but there were ways around it - especially with most everything being tradeable.
Raidan said:Roleplay for me, not typically because I do roleplay, but because I like the player maturity that usually exists on them. And, probably most importantly, with Brad-developed games, they usually have a great ruleset which, with EQ, contained keypoints such as follows:
- No character transfers. Everyone was starting over, butt naked, at lvl 1.
- 1 character per account.
- No shared "Common Tongue" language. Races could only speak their own racial language(s). Language skill improvements (achieved by listening to someone else's chat) had a rate cap, and only improved via /group and /say chat channels.
- Characters had alignments (good, neutral, evil, etc.), which outright prevented certain races, religions, and professions from grouping with each other.
- Zone-wide chat channels didn't exist in most of the world: /auction was restricted to cities, /shout had a limited radius, the /ooc channel was removed entirely.
- You could only buff characters within a certain level range of your own. (Actually I think it was relative to the level of the spell.) So powerleveling wasn't near as effective or straight-forward as usual.
- Mobs that were too low lvl to grant XP would not drop any items flagged as MAGIC, LORE (one per character), or NODROP (called BOP nowadays). This was known as the Trivial Loot Code (TLC).
- There were almost no NODROP (BOP) items, outside of epic weapons and some quest items, so most things were tradeable. This offset the TLC to a degree.
I'd play on a server like that again for Pantheon in a heartbeat - the only point I wasn't a huge fan of was the trivial loot code, but there were ways around it - especially with most everything being tradeable.
Is VR planning similar server customization? I must admit, this sounds awesome.
For me, time zone normally takes priority, but if Pantheon has server variety similar to Raidan's post, then I can't even say what my criteria will be.
jadaski said:Raidan said:Snip - see post above
Is VR planning similar server customization? I must admit, this sounds awesome.
For me, time zone normally takes priority, but if Pantheon has server variety similar to Raidan's post, then I can't even say what my criteria will be.
Brad has quoted me before when I've listed this ruleset here saying he was very proud of the FV server - I think it will be safe to assume that Pantheon, if it has a high enough population, would have a similar ruleset on its roleplay server. The PvP and RP have been the alternate ruleset servers most discussed here as potentially being available at launch.
This ruleset is very different than one has come to expect on a roleplaying server.
If VR is thinking of something so extreme I suggest they poll the community (or outside it) to see how many would be interested.
Quite a few people that have expressed interest in a roleplaying server might not have done so had they seen this many changes from a "normal" server.
I find much of it highly desirable so no one take this as a criticism. The one thing I do not like - I *really* do not like it - is one character per account.
In todays MMO landscape an original FV server is a haven for multiboxers.
If all your alts are on separate accounts anyway so that you can play them simultaneously, you might as well join the server that enhances that advantage.
I usually choose a server that isn't first or last alphabetically and choose a server name that I feel might be a less popular choice. I prefer to play on less crowded servers. Of course location based as well, but I live in the US so that is just the standard servers in most cases.
Have overflow servers ready so it solves half your problems with congested servers on launch day. People can join whichever server they like and if it's full, send them to the overflow server while they wait. No need to create a ton of shards during launch day only to merge them later when the initial rush of new accounts have subsided.
