Server Pops Too Low - Remove Shards

[Fohox]

Mate, it wont be of any help. Even on FULL pop server the game is empty. They have put more shards there. The effect is the same > 5-80 players at the most.

 

Some of us play on low pop servers and would be happy to have 80 people in a shard. On my server I've never seen more than one instance of any zone; I'm lucky to have 30 people in a given zone. So merging servers or at least offering free transfers isn't that bad an idea.

[Werra]

Funny that only about two weeks ago the forums were ablaze with complaints that the login queues were too long and that BW should *ADD MOAR SHARDZ*...

 

Now, 14 days later, they should start consolidating them???

 

*** did everyone go?

 

Compare that to a theme park which has 10 entrances. And people form a line and wait at 1 entrance instead of all 10. Its the infrastructural flaw, a paradox.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Werra

[Werra]

http://www.heroengine.com/heroengine/server-systems/

 

 

You can read info about HeroEngine used in the game here.

 

It clearly says that engine is able to integrate a seamless approach to the game ( WITHOUT OUTDOOR INSTANCING AT ALL). Devs should think or should have thought about it.

 

Or the engine isnt just capable of mass pop handling unlike GameBryo.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Werra

[SBite]

Thin-foil hat on.

The problem probably is deeper than "we don't want ppl to have low quality experience and wait for spawns" and its obvious that game performance drops heavily when more ppl are close together. I can back up the fake "spawn" reason with a question about why there is Fleet sharding when never seen unaccessible vendor 'cos of many ppl around (my server fleet is caped/sharded every day at peak hours). Fleet can very easily support 2x or even 3x of the current 250 ppl limit per shard but the game performance drops significantly.

 

BTW what some early posts link about shards will be removed later in the game is totally not true. What is told in the link is that when population rises the game makes shards on the fly. Then when population drops and ppl start to spread between zones/levels they expect shards to not be so common as in the beginning. There will be far fewer leveling character later in the game that sharding will not happen so often but this have nothing to do with removing it or rising caps.

 

My opinion is that this sharding/instancing works so well against server communities. On one side they refuse to include cross-server LFD on the other with sharding they divide community heavily (and prevent world PVP that hardly even exists) .

[endie]

Yes i like the game but this rharding thing isnt right , i usualy meet 5-6 people in one playing session (2-3 hours) thats not how a MMO should be.

[Werra]

Thin-foil hat on.

The problem probably is deeper than "we don't want ppl to have low quality experience and wait for spawns" and its obvious that game performance drops heavily when more ppl are close together. I can back up the fake "spawn" reason with a question about why there is Fleet sharding when never seen unaccessible vendor 'cos of many ppl around (my server fleet is caped/sharded every day at peak hours). Fleet can very easily support 2x or even 3x of the current 250 ppl limit per shard but the game performance drops significantly.

 

BTW what some early posts link about shards will be removed later in the game is totally not true. What is told in the link is that when population rises the game makes shards on the fly. Then when population drops and ppl start to spread between zones/levels they expect shards to not be so common as in the beginning. There will be far fewer leveling character later in the game that sharding will not happen so often but this have nothing to do with removing it or rising caps.

 

My opinion is that this sharding/instancing works so well against server communities. On one side they refuse to include cross-server LFD on the other with sharding they divide community heavily (and prevent world PVP that hardly even exists) .

 

 

 

Excellent view on the subject. And that just means that open world PvP will not exist. Community management will be harder and u wont feel true MMO "feel". GAme actually starts on lvl 50 so what they gonna do about it when most of ppl wanna play end game content? 250 ppl ? Thats way too low i just cant belive they were so short sighted.

[LexonLightsaber]

Also I approve of sharding. It makes the game much more accessible to a broader range of gamers.

 

Not only does it help prevent overpopulation issues with quest mobs, it also allows you to not have to say, run into a "hub" and suddenly watch as your computer struggles to load potentially 100's of players.

 

It's true that sharding eliminates some of the "massive" part, but I'd prefer losing some of that instead of having to worry about avoiding any densely populated areas of the game.

 

I have figured out, that a more singleplayer experience is more suited to your needs. Understand that but this game will have to become an mmo where everyone is fighting for everything, its the nature of the beast.

[Werra]

I have figured out, that a more singleplayer experience is more suited to your needs. Understand that but this game will have to become an mmo where everyone is fighting for everything, its the nature of the beast.

 

That is the true feel of MMO. A way to a Flashpoint or massive Operation needs to be paved with danger. players from opposing faction need to hunt for you to stalk you and your party.

 

I have never been angry on other players when then trying to stab me when i am questing..

The feeling of imminent danger, the fight for a quest item, the fight for glory, making you a hero or a nemesis or a defender.

 

That is impossible with shards in the game. Lets be honest...Most of us just want to get to 50 asap, spacebarring thru most of convos. Its all great voice acting and such, but MMOs really dont need so much voice acting. MMO world needs to be HOMOGENOUS, ORGANIC and FULL OF LIFE.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Werra

[Mikkeos]

I love EVE Online for the scale.

Every pilot online can be met - if you can find him.

 

You want loads of people? Go to the hubs.

You want less people? Go to the areas where not many people are around.

 

Oh, and the tools to find these places are right there.

 

 

 

The sharding in SWTOR is too ... conservative.

A capital planet, a seat of the senate, none the less. You are there with 130 other players. Huh?

An effing casino and main trade hub like Nar Shaddaa, and you got a handful npc in a cantina and you are lucky to meet another player out in the open. Puleeeze.

(PvP on Nar Shaddaa wont happen much in the low level areas. It is nearly impossible to reach the other side's lowbie areas.)

[Werra]

 

The sharding in SWTOR is too ... conservative.

A capital planet, a seat of the senate, none the less. You are there with 130 other players. Huh?

An effing casino and main trade hub like Nar Shaddaa, and you got a handful npc in a cantina and you are lucky to meet another player out in the open. Puleeeze.

(PvP on Nar Shaddaa wont happen much in the low level areas. It is nearly impossible to reach the other side's lowbie areas.)

 

 

I have never seen 130 players in 1 place . The most was around 90 on the Rep. Fleet.

The capital planet <90. And yep 130 is a waaay 2 low.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Werra

[Gankdalf_]

for a game in it's first month the servers are totally dead, it's like I have the entire planet to myself. This is no MMO, it's a single player game that charges £9 a month for those stupid enough to pay it.

 

In a few days time Bioware will be asking for more money from you to play this single player game.

[Werra]

for a game in it's first month the servers are totally dead, it's like I have the entire planet to myself. This is no MMO, it's a single player game that charges £9 a month for those stupid enough to pay it.

 

In a few days time Bioware will be asking for more money from you to play this single player game.

 

Single player/COOP game . Bioware needs to be aware of that and they know they will lose their subscribers if they dont do something to fix the problem.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Werra

[Aranthaur]

I have to say, being on Hoth with 15 players and try to get: 1x tank, 1x healer, 2x dps for Heroic 4 quests is impossible....

 

PLEASE BioWare, raise the shard population limit asap-zulu-omega-roger-that! On "Dune Banthar"-realm, there are hardly 30-40 people in a zone, thats just.....dead ^^

[VoXPCS]

The Hero Engine called, it said it can't handle 100 people on one shard.

 

This isn't going to happen people. None of what you all want is possible.

 

Anyone know what WYSIWYG means?

 

Aside from some cosmetic changes to the UI, a few new planets (in a year), and some new raids (maybe in a year). THIS GAME IS GOING TO STAY THE EXACT SAME AS IT IS NOW.

 

• Slow mounts
  
• Boring combat
  
• No flying mounts (Or speeders)
  
• Armor will always look abysmal for every class
  
• Mediocre graphics
  
• Empty, wide open wasted maps with 12 people seen per hour
  
• Orgrimmar (Imperial Fleet) full of people standing around.
  

 

That's it. Sub or don't sub. You pick.

[Werra]

I have to say, being on Hoth with 15 players and try to get: 1x tank, 1x healer, 2x dps for Heroic 4 quests is impossible....

 

Exactly, I have skipped most of Heroics+4.

 

The Hero Engine called, it said it can't handle 100 people on one shard.

 

This isn't going to happen people. None of what you all want is possible.

 

Anyone know what WYSIWYG means?

 

Aside from some cosmetic changes to the UI, a few new planets (in a year), and some new raids (maybe in a year). THIS GAME IS GOING TO STAY THE EXACT SAME AS IT IS NOW.

 

• Slow mounts
  
• Boring combat
  
• No flying mounts (Or speeders)
  
• Armor will always look abysmal for every class
  
• Mediocre graphics
  
• Empty, wide open wasted maps with 12 people seen per hour
  
• Orgrimmar (Imperial Fleet) full of people standing around.
  

 

That's it. Sub or don't sub. You pick.

 

Yep IDD what u see is what u get. Seeing is believeing that is. You now guys, I am 32 years old. My first RPG was Bards Tale 3-Thief of Fate ( played also 1,2)-a game from Interplay 1988. That was the greatest experience of that time and maybe one of the best overall. Despite being a single game, you lead a party of 7 characters and it really had that feeling of grandeur.

 

I have to agree with all u said.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Werra

[formulaic]

The terminology here is wrong:

- a shard is an MMO server.

- a zone can be 'multiply instanced' (usually just refered to as 'instancing').

- private instancing is 'flashpoints' and the green doors etc.

 

So this game is sharded, multiply instanced and has private instances.

Cryptic's games are shardless, multiply instanced and have private instances.

Rift/WoW I believe were sharded, singly instanced, with private instancing.

 

---

 

A key problem with multiple instancing is not creating instances but collapsing them:

- a game creates 2 instances A/B, each with 100 players.

- 3/4 log out, leaving 25 players in each instance.

- 50 players will fit in 1 instance! Yay.... but hang on, how the hell do we do that?

 

The game ends up with 2 underpopulated instances, but with no particularly obvious way to merge them - nor any way to close one.

Edited January 13, 2012 by formulaic

[Werra]

The terminology here is wrong:

- a shard is an MMO server.

- a zone can be 'multiply instanced' (usually just refered to as 'instancing').

- private instancing is 'flashpoints' and the green doors etc.

 

So this game is sharded, multiply instanced and has private instances.

Cryptic's games are shardless, multiply instanced and have private instances.

Rift/WoW I believe were sharded, singly instanced, with private instancing.

 

---

 

A key problem with multiple instancing is not creating instances but collapsing them:

- a game creates 2 instances A/B, each with 100 players.

- 3/4 log out, leaving 25 players in each instance.

- 50 players will fit in 1 instance! Yay.... but hang on, how the hell do we do that?

 

The game ends up with 2 underpopulated instances, but with no particularly obvious way to merge them - nor any way to close one.

 

 

^^ this. The right name is INTERSERVER SHARDING. Its alot easier to say shard. But thats it.

[Xerda]

Arguing the terminology is not really helping the issue.

[Hairless]

BW doesn't want areas to be populated because it will expose how unoptimized the game is.

[CreamPoet]

/signed in agreement with the OP

[Navarium]

Having failed to come into contact with a single soul on Tatooine within a three hour gaming session I can heartily agree with the OP.

[Werra]

Arguing the terminology is not really helping the issue.

 

Aw no, its far from arguing, i agree with all that he mentioned.

[Xerda]

Aw no, its far from arguing, i agree with all that he mentioned.

 

Excellent

[Cancrizans]

/signed

 

This is something that needs to be addressed right now. It is giving a bad image to people who are borderline on whether they will play this game or find something else.

 

Even when the servers are busy, there is OBVIOUSLY far too much sharding going on, you rarely even see another player in some zones ON THE MOST POPULATED SERVERS!!!

 

I play on Jung Ma, which is one of the heavy load servers, and it always feels like there are only a few people around. This is extremely detrimental to the game's future, and I am a bit concerned that with all the testing that has been done, Bioware hasn't figured this out yet.

 

I have had more human interaction in games that were FAILING than I have in this game, and that is not a good thing. Even games that have had big problems and ended up F2P have provided more community interaction than you get in SWTOR chat.

 

This needs a fix fast Bioware, I hope you are listening...

[shigekazu]

I really don't want to unsubscribe from this game, but this sharding/multi-instancing issue is really killing the experiance for me. Every time I look for a group for flashpoints or heroics, I can't find enough people because max there's 50 people in my planet/fleet (whereas in Beta this wasn't a problem because you had 100+).