Nothing to do, Nowhere to go, No one to see

[LungTien Temeraire]

My how things have changed! Many have already said it. I log in with Jared, or my new Halfgiant, Darmet, and the place is dead. There are a few new dragons in N Trismus lounging around with a great Wyrm. And a few new bipeds like me. I wander around with LFG up for hours, and I am the only one with it up.
I sure hope we get a couple dozen at least new players to group with. Because it sure seems desolate.

Something tells me that this great wyrm is called LungTien Temeraire
It depends of the moment. Sometimes, the place is filled of players, sometimes no.

[Jared Darkwind]

Yes, Aucapoma has buffed my beefy giant
And yeah, LungTien would be the wyrm

[Veruliyam]

Oh, no!

I've been found out!

Aucapoma

[Phelim]

As a new player (I joined long ago but have am back giving this game a third try, desperate to like it), I have to wonder why all the servers are not merged into one?

Three servers of 20-100 players can't be as good as one server with 50-200 people. I play on Order, and if I'm playing in the evening EST, things seem to peak in the mid-30s population-wise.

As much as I'd like a role-play server, I'd rather just a plain old active server. With the ability to create all of those custom chat channels, there's got to be a way for RPers to find a way to survive in a merged world.

I know I'm new and I'm sure this debate has happened elsewhere, but I think an active community is the key to any game.

[LOVWYRM]

Phelim, I understand that you ask this.
And you might get a lot of different answers.
Here is my opinion:
As long as we can affort to run 3 shards its best solution for Istarians, cause 3 shards mean 3 different worlds. I use to play on all shards and have good friends there. Its different gaming which means additional fun and experience.
And I think Istarians would not mind but do not need full populated shards.

Another thing is that most of us have multiple plots/lairs.
And we put much love and efforts in that.
A merge would cause that the citizans of at least 2 shards loose their possessions. And lots of us shall leave the game then.

Concerning Order (where I live ) : Its not that low populated as you may feel.
People come together in various chat channels and play and talk together.
We know each other well and noone has to play alone. Maybe you want to join one or another and get familiar with the community.

Happy gaming

[Vaz]

Blight is the testing server, so it cannot be merged under any circumstances.

[Xepher]

As a new player (I joined long ago but have am back giving this game a third try, desperate to like it), I have to wonder why all the servers are not merged into one?

Three servers of 20-100 players can't be as good as one server with 50-200 people. I play on Order, and if I'm playing in the evening EST, things seem to peak in the mid-30s population-wise.

As much as I'd like a role-play server, I'd rather just a plain old active server. With the ability to create all of those custom chat channels, there's got to be a way for RPers to find a way to survive in a merged world.

I know I'm new and I'm sure this debate has happened elsewhere, but I think an active community is the key to any game.

I am personally against this idea, completely.

As a roleplayer, I have no doubts that such an occurrence would be pure chaos all the time, what with non-RPers coming into RP chats and insulting us as they some times do already, or coming in and speaking out of character and with game terms all the time, RPers hanging around in-character and trying to interact with someone they see, only to find that, oops, they're not RPers, and the list goes on. Too many problems for me, thanks.

We already have quite a few non-RPers in our server, and while the majority are kind folk and don't cause any problems to RPers in any way, a merging would be nothing but stress and annoyance constantly. The few that we have that are disrespectful and rude are already enough to spoil some of the server's RP fun.

If Order's low population bothers you, then go out and recruit more RPers! =P

[Jared Darkwind]

I agree with Xepher. I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to play a game like this if they didn't roleplay. That's the whole purpose behind a game like this.

[Sigi]

I agree with Xepher. I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to play a game like this if they didn't roleplay.

For someone who role plays i find it of a great lack of imagination that you can't figure out why someone would want to play a game like this without role playing.

That's the whole purpose behind a game like this.

For you.

[jerk-o]

I don't role play, but I still play this game because I like talking to the friends I've made while playing and sometimes doing things together in a group with those friends. The friends I've made while playing are the reason why I'm still playing 4 years after I started.

[Dragonboy]

I agree with Xepher. I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to play a game like this if they didn't roleplay. That's the whole purpose behind a game like this.

You like to role play, that is what you want for this game.
I like this game because I love dragons, the fact that I meet many people I otherwise never would have met while fighting / crafting / relaxing with one of my dragon characters is just a big plus for me.

[Teto Frum]

We all play for our own reasons, as one who has played Multi Media Online Role Playing Games as long as they've existed I can say them catching on with non RPing console crowd has been in my eyes the best thing to ever happen to the industry. This has driven them beyond the fringe market of the RPing society, games now boast population sizes never dreamed of which has pushed the quality of the games well beyond what could ever have been possible. Shard shaking flareups between RPers and nonRPers arent new to Hz or the industry as a whole. That is why gaming companies create Shards dedicated to the RPers they design predominately for, game lore the heart of the game for RPers and developers is as important as any graphics, performance or mechanics, and trust me before the non RPer invasion of MMORPGs those three left something to be desired. Thankfully those three things are vital organs to a nonRPer, therefore once the gaming industry realized there were more shards/servers of nonRPers a lot more time and effort went into the other three aspects. Its good to have the two groups separated but both have gained from the others existence.

I also don't think theres any reason to insult someone or question whether they are good at what they claim to enjoy just because they couldn't see why a person not into RP would play a multi media online role playing game, it is in the title after all. Perhaps an explanation of why you do would've been better and more educational than an insult.

[velveeta]

I agree with Xepher. I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to play a game like this if they didn't roleplay. That's the whole purpose behind a game like this.

no offense meant (and none taken or comprehended), but i have never roleplayed in this game - not ever. the closest i come is pretending that my male characters aren't female (specifically me, just more aggressive...), but really, since i play all my alts the same way, i stop doing even that after 5 minutes......

i play this game because its awesome, the peeps are (for the most part) awesome, i love more (and hate less) things about it than any other game currently available to me, it has x factor, and, in all humility, i can be as big a deal here as i want to be. i affect and effect the world and the players in it. i am an important person in istaria, at least on blight, and i can't possibly be all that in any other game - i have tried.

i'm just saying, roleplaying is far from teh be all and end all of this game....

[Velea]

This thread is heading down hill fast and it didn't start very "high up" on the hill to begin with, so I am closing it.