The Plus and Minus points of clustering.

[Briannon]

Theres the ups & downs of a server merge, but DAoC is about RvR imo.. Server merge will imrpove it

Aarrggh - this is what i was talking about in my last post. PLEASE please please please try to bear in mind that DAoC is about more than just RvR and that RvR is only one aspect of a wonderfully structured and varied game. RvR will NOT be improved if as a result of clustering the combined server population goes DOWN.

[Ankh Morpork]

Actually, most people I know play on both excalibur and prydwen so I doubt the majority of the ones voting for clustering will be 1 server players only.

/Ankh

[Ankh Morpork]

Aarrggh - this is what i was talking about in my last post. PLEASE please please please try to bear in mind that DAoC is about more than just RvR and that RvR is only one aspect of a wonderfully structured and varied game. RvR will NOT be improved if as a result of clustering the combined server population goes DOWN.

Now this I do agree with, daoc is NOT all about RvR even though its a very very big part of it (since relics does affect PvE too)

/Ankh

[Elrandhir]

Aarrggh - this is what i was talking about in my last post. PLEASE please please please try to bear in mind that DAoC is about more than just RvR and that RvR is only one aspect of a wonderfully structured and varied game. RvR will NOT be improved if as a result of clustering the combined server population goes DOWN.

Many things I don´t agree on, but can agree to this also Daoc not just being about RvRm, even though it´s what I think is the most fun in the game

[Quinlan]

Aarrggh - this is what i was talking about in my last post. PLEASE please please please try to bear in mind that DAoC is about more than just RvR and that RvR is only one aspect of a wonderfully structured and varied game. RvR will NOT be improved if as a result of clustering the combined server population goes DOWN.

Very true there are also BG's

[Briannon]

this is to prevent abuse and quiet rightly so tbh..

I agree that the cross-realming prevention measures are necessary - never had an argument about the necessity for them, just the impact on a two-server cluster with NO alternative server arrangement provided for different game styles and preferences.

But the bottom line is we need more people on the servers and what people are forgetting is that not that long ago.. 12 mths or so.. prydwen server had more people playing on it than would be if you merged both excal and prydwen together today.

Agree again - imho the answer is better marketing to increase the player-base (compete with WoW!) not clustering to solve a problem caused by a low customer base.

and im sure ive read somewhere it is reversable if its not going to plan..

GOA's news said that clustering is irreversible. The reason being, I think, is that it requires a physical reconfiguration of the hardware involved. As I understand it, each zone is physically located on a different machine and when a player zones they are literally transferred from one machine to another. Therefore in a clustered RvR zone you would have all the players logging into that zone being transferred to one machine, and if the ToA, SI, classic and cata zones were kept for each server then they would be transferred to different machines for each zone they are logging to. This is why I think clustering is irreversible but perhaps Requiel is better qualified to answer this point.

[Elrandhir]

I guess my worry is that people who only play one server will view the vote from that perspective and not be aware of the potential ramifications for people who play both. Please don't take that as a criticism because it's not meant to be one, and it is why I have posted so much stuff from the perspective of a multi-server player. All I ask is that when people vote they consider all angles and please try to not just see it from either a single realm or a purely RvR point of view.

I will vote on what I think will make hib/prydwen last the longest, and I really wouldent mind some more Action, RvR aint that bad really, but many other things that aint great.

But depends mostly on how they implement it really, havent read all to much yet.

[Briannon]

Just done a quick count - the US game has 18 english language servers plus Pendragon (test server). We have 2 plus camlann. Clustering 18 servers is a different ball game to clustering 2. There are currently 9 clusters on the US servers - we would have 1.

The US clusters are:

Bedevere / Igraine / Tristan
Galahad / Morgan Le Fay
Guinevere
Iseult / Kay / Pellinor
Lancelot
Merlin
Palomides / Bors / Gawaine
Pendragon
Percival / Nimue

Gaheris is not clustered, neither is Mordred the PvP server.

Ours would be:

Excalibur/Prydwen

Not really comparing like with like are we?

[Elrandhir]

Just done a quick count - the US game has 18 english language servers plus Pendragon (test server). We have 2 plus camlann. Clustering 18 servers is a different ball game to clustering 2. There are currently 9 clusters on the US servers - we would have 1.

The US clusters are:

Bedevere / Igraine / Tristan
Galahad / Morgan Le Fay
Guinevere
Iseult / Kay / Pellinor
Lancelot
Merlin
Palomides / Bors / Gawaine
Pendragon
Percival / Nimue

Gaheris is not clustered, neither is Mordred the PvP server.

Ours would be:

Excalibur/Prydwen

Not really comparing like with like are we?

Don´t matter to me though, I only need one server

[Briannon]

Don´t matter to me though, I only need one server

/sigh

You may only need one but you're paying for two, and hence the ability to use two realms. Under clustering you would effectively only get one relam so the cost per realm doubles. You won't see your subs cut in half because you can only access one realm.