A thought..

[Godpuppet]

Im quite new here, and im only just getting the jist of the goings on, ive tried to read the smatterings of information around the forums but I havent seen anything on this issue. I apologize in advance if its already been raised.


As some of you may have heard me harping on about. Ive been working on map of ALFA, showing all the servers, their territories and what *is* and *isnt* being worked on in ALFA.

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/5914 ... itecb8.jpg


Ive been in dialogue with the builders for waterdeep, silver marches, western heartlands & baldurs gate and looking at the results, I cant but help feel reassured.

ALFA has atleast 4 interconnecting servers. Perhaps 6 when I recieve all the responses.

These 4 servers, are all covered by one road. The Tradeway.

Consider this as food for thought. What if each server changed their immediate priority to building the highway then pushing it onto a server. Creating a single path between all present servers. Secondary priorities could be looking at building the minor towns and areas along that road. Tertiary, gradually going further out.

We then have FOUR connected servers and something comparable to a live version. Each server can then gradually add on the content as it is created. At first it may only be a road. But as minor towns, are added it would gradually expand.

The main benefit with such a system, would be the fact that instead of having to wait for a server to be completely finished or atleast BETA3. Players could traverse minor areas on that server and/or use that road to travel between complete and incomplete lands.

For newer players, actually seeing there is a physical world, and not just a promise of "soon" would be reassuring and would encourage players to stay. For elder players? It might encourage NWN1'ers to NWN2, it would definately give us NWN2'ers something to do.

Looking at the player population of TSM, I think its so low becuase of the prospect of its release on the 15th, nobody wants to have their characters deleted. DM's seeing no one playing, dont login themselves. Then players again, dont login becuase there are no DM's, it seems a vicious circle to me.

Perhaps this could provide means for players to play.

Morally, I think for both players and perhaps DM's, actually seeing people online and playing this game would create more enthusiasm and a greater sense of achievement. It may help builders, giving them a break from getting burnt out.

We already have a Baldurs Gate Beta server, we now have a Western heartlands, which both already have much of the road. I dont know the condition of Waterdeep, but TSM atleast has most of the road there and ready to use. Would this goal really be far from achieveable?


The major issue I can see, is cross server transit would need to be sorted out. An automated system would need to be in place, and how long it will take to decide then act upon that? I dont know.

The other problem is that it would require builders to change their plans. I understand if people are perticular about their projects. Im not here to upset anyone, Im just passionate about ALFA and I want to play. \o/

Let me know your thoughts, please keep your critisism constructive.

[darrenhfx]

Let me just say that it's wonderful to have fresh eyes on a situation.



We have seen a long process of getting servers where they are now.. and it's by no means over. In the past, the numerous servers have been connected by portals that allowed players to make their way across Faerun looking for adventure and fun.

What you have suggested is similar in a number of ways to the servers of NWN1 that were primarily based around a single road that connected many other servers.

At this stage of the game, as the NWN2 slowly work their way through the various beta stages, some attention will be given to how players are able to transfer between servers.

It's nice to see someone thinking ahead though and if you want to get more involved with the process of making it all happen continue to watch and read and ask questions.

[Rotku]

Looking at the player population of TSM, I think its so low becuase of the prospect of its release on the 15th, nobody wants to have their characters deleted. DM's seeing no one playing, dont login themselves. Then players again, dont login becuase there are no DM's, it seems a vicious circle to me.

This is all the more reason to play/DM! You can have fun, play games, give out loads of loot and xp, and not worry about screwing things up! Who said we're here to RP?

[Avaz]

Looking at the player population of TSM, I think its so low becuase of the prospect of its release on the 15th, nobody wants to have their characters deleted. DM's seeing no one playing, dont login themselves. Then players again, dont login becuase there are no DM's, it seems a vicious circle to me.

Admittedly, this is one of the reasons I don't stick around as long. Most times, I find I'm the only one online during the free times I find to play. And I usually end up leaving after a handful of minutes because, even though roleplaying by myself is fun, it's even more fun when other people are around.

Im not here to upset anyone, Im just passionate about ALFA and I want to play. \o/

+10. I cannot endorse this comment enough! \o/

[darrenhfx]

You have to realize that the player population of TSM is low because it is in its testing phase. The bug testers go out and try to find fault (which they do a great job of) and report it back so the builders can fix the problems. The OAS2 server was like that until the 1st of April and you'll notice that the other servers BG and WH will go through the same process as they ramp up for live.

[Curmudgeon]

What darrenhfx said. +1

[Brokenbone]

What d-hfx & c said +2.

Bugtesting the hell out of things before going live is important, or else you run the risk of situations where very OOC / immersion breaking things have to take place to make "fixes", at the point when things are supposed to be fully game-on.

Example: if you had invincible kobolds who accidentally had red dragon levels of breath weapon: fine to catch and have a laugh about in beta. But if they rip the ass out of a party three weeks into Live, what do you do? Tech rez them all? What about the survivors of the party who looted their buddies and have been living large in their uh... memory? Give back the goodies? Erase memories of that "terrible day in kobold country", untell the stories and warnings furnished to others to beware the firebreathing kobolds?

Same deal if chickens accidentally laid diamonds on an egg gathering static due to a messed up resref on the item drop. Good for a laugh in beta, unreal impact on the Live economy when 98% of players are honest, go to a DM about it as something too good to be true, and 2% hoard or sell the diamonds or don't check into bugthreads or DM/builder pleas to hand back the 5000gp diamond-eggs.

Again, getting funky stuff found and fixed before it becomes part of the Live landscape is a valuable service, even if one doesn't feel in a position to volunteer to do more intense technical & building stuff, or doesn't want all their surprises ruined. Anything from plain broken stuff to "too good to be true" or "too bad to be true" items, all is helpful to nail down.