Elvis has left the building

[Niminae]

Niminae has left Wayfinder and transferred to Sarlona.

While I find it ridiculous that SSG actually charges their customers a fee to leave a lame server with a poor play experience to play on a server with a more robust play experience, this is sadly the case.

Wayfinder is, to my knowledge, the least populous DDO server, and it has less than half of the population of the next least populous server. This is a bad situation for a game that claims to be a MMO, because the "Massively Multiplayer" part of that acronym just does not apply when the server population numbers are so low.

I've had to leave behind all of my supporting mules, because transferring them is just out of the question financially. At the price of ~$15 per character transfer the ~$300 cost to move 20 characters just isn't going to happen. But for me it came down to playing on a server with a better MMO experience or just quit playing entirely.

Sarlona is a far more populous server. At any given moment there are more L30 characters on Sarlona than there are characters in total on Wayfinder. On Sarlona I can put up a pug LFM for any quest or raid at all and it will fill within minutes. On Wayfinder you can post a LFM and not get any interest for hours. This is not the experience of a couple weeks play speaking, this is the experience of several years play speaking.

I've posted the LFM numbers for Wayfinder vs. Sarlona and vs. Cannith on the forums. I did that across three days time, and my numbers spanned multiple hours in each day. The Wayfinder LFM numbers were almost always zero. Some people like to White Knight SSG and claim that low population numbers don't include people on Anonymous, or that any given snapshot is just reflecting a bad time of the day. And that might be true for a snapshot which only includes the numbers for any given day and hour and minute. But when I do this across three different servers, across three different days, and across many hours, that argument becomes specious. Wayfinder is a ghost town, and no amount of (rational) White Knighting can deny this fact.

I have left a lot of good people behind on Wayfinder. My Friends list is maxed out. The Knights of Power is a great guild with a lot of great people as members, and the guild leader is a wonderful person with a lot of history in the game going back to Beta. The social circles on Wayfinder are excellent, but they needed to be in order to try to overcome the limitations of the population. I wish you all the best, you are all great people who I will miss playing this game with. I wish that Wayfinder was a more populous server so that my move was not required, but as I said it was either move servers or move on to a different game entirely.

Ciao!

[Annex]

Back in 2014 I did the same thing in The Lord of the Rings Online. I absolutely hated the server I started on. After much research and creating characters on a few other servers, I spent $300 US and transferred 10 of my characters to a 'role play server'. I lost many of my friends, all my houses, and much of my wealth but the new server seemed so much more hopeful.

Unfortunately, my experience had an unhappy ending and I eventually quit that game entirely. Fate is a fickle Lady and the money I spent was completely wasted.

Your experience already seems more positive than mine was and I truly hope you find many new friends. :) A fantasy world is a very lonely place to walk alone.

Edit: I do not write of my personal experience simply to be negative. I am offering a warning to those who consider such a move. Do your research and make your selection with great care. I thought I did just that but it was not enough.

[Yamani]

Just out of curiosity, did you know wayfinder was created for the Germans?

[Vish]

Aloha!
Welcome to Sarlona
Already ran with ya
Good to have more vets

[Vulkoorex]

Bye Nim. It was fun gaming with you.

V.

[TitusOvid]

Just out of curiosity, did you know wayfinder was created for the Germans?

I heard that, too yes. But I am not really sure if it is really the case.
If they did a proper translation of the game, maybe it would have worked. But it was ludicrous, a joke, unplayable. More confusing than anything.
And I haven't seen any advertisement in relevant game publications. So I am not really sure, if it was explicitly for Germans. If so, they didn't target the right audience.

But nevertheless, this is another sad story from Wayfinder. I hope Nim finds what she/he is looking for on Sarlona.

[blerkington]

It's a big step to take, so I hope it works out for you on Sarlona.

Not sure why you didn't go to Orien with its bajillion LFMS at all times, where the handouts grow on bushes and you sleep out every night. There's a lake of stew and of whiskey too, and you can paddle all around them in a big canoe.

Or for that matter to Khyber, which is where all the fun and raiding is (at least for now) and the best people are.

Anyway, good luck with it. We don't need to lose any more players or sensible forum posters either.

[Niminae]

Just out of curiosity, did you know wayfinder was created for the Germans?

When I started playing? No. It was just a name in a list of names with nothing to distinguish them. I didn't find out that it was "the German server" until I went to submit a bug report and saw "Wayfinder (DE)" in the dropdown for servers.

[JQP]

Hey Nim. Sorry to see you go, but wish you the best of luck. I am thinking about making the same move myself. Take care.

[Tahlee]

You were lots of fun to group with, I am glad your on a server where your LFM's get filled. Hope you are enjoying the game.

[Dunklerlindwurm]

Well done. You did the right thing.

Just sad that you did not choose Orien :D

[Apo]

Niminae has left Wayfinder and transferred to Sarlona.
Wayfinder is, to my knowledge, the least populous DDO server, and it has less than half of the population of the next least populous server. This is a bad situation for a game that claims to be a MMO, because the "Massively Multiplayer" part of that acronym just does not apply when the server population numbers are so low.


I just started playing DDO two weeks ago, and have just reached level 7. I had just been learning the game play, and only yesterday started to look around for items I needed, specifically item enhancements, which I could not find, and then groups, none of which exists except at the highest levels. Today, I took a look at the server situation, only to discover that (not mentioned in server choices) this is a German language server. I chose the server because the choices said "population normal" and I liked the name "Wayfinder" (which does not sound remotely German). A couple hours ago, I reviewed the rules on server transfer, only to discover that if I wanted to transfer I would have to pay about $20. That is ludicrous.

I chose to start DDO because Dofus, which I have played for around five years is nearly dead, at least the multi-account server, Echo, is, despite last year's server merger, which was destroyed when they almost immediately opened several mono-account servers. Basically, I chose DDO because I wanted to find a game that had a long life, and pnp DnD is something I liked as a child. However, I will not waste two more weeks grinding back to this level, and I will not pay for anything until I know clients get some respect (I spent ~200 euros last year on Dofus, so it is DDO's loss if I am not turned into a client).

[kanordog]

I will not waste two more weeks grinding back to this level


DDO is mostly about reincarnation, Your character will be level 7 quite a few times, unless You want to go to level 30 and sit there doing not much.
Reincarnation will give You stronger character(s), more power and game knowledge. Nim transferred because he accumulated years of play (by reincarnations and itmes) under his character. He would have lost a lot by rolling a new character.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Reincarnation


Also, You get free store points by running to 100 favor on each server (that will give You 1000 DP for free) and by doing that You will have level 4 characters on each server. As a new player I definitely recommend to do Your favor runs.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Guide_to_Free_to_Play You can also see what server would fit You the best.

[TitusOvid]

I just started playing DDO two weeks ago, and have just reached level 7. I had just been learning the game play, and only yesterday started to look around for items I needed, specifically item enhancements, which I could not find, and then groups, none of which exists except at the highest levels. Today, I took a look at the server situation, only to discover that (not mentioned in server choices) this is a German language server. I chose the server because the choices said "population normal" and I liked the name "Wayfinder" (which does not sound remotely German). A couple hours ago, I reviewed the rules on server transfer, only to discover that if I wanted to transfer I would have to pay about $20. That is ludicrous.

I chose to start DDO because Dofus, which I have played for around five years is nearly dead, at least the multi-account server, Echo, is, despite last year's server merger, which was destroyed when they almost immediately opened several mono-account servers. Basically, I chose DDO because I wanted to find a game that had a long life, and pnp DnD is something I liked as a child. However, I will not waste two more weeks grinding back to this level, and I will not pay for anything until I know clients get some respect (I spent ~200 euros last year on Dofus, so it is DDO's loss if I am not turned into a client).

I seriously suggest you change servers as in roll up a new toon on a diff server. If you are just lvl 7 and have no unique equipment it would be the right move.
Try out some servers in your timezone and your playtime. Just pulling up the who panel and see how many are online can give you a first impression. That is no guarantee for a fitting server, though.
Spare a thought on that possibility.

[Hafeal]

I just started playing DDO two weeks ago, and have just reached level 7. I had just been learning the game play, and only yesterday started to look around for items I needed, specifically item enhancements, which I could not find, and then groups, none of which exists except at the highest levels. Today, I took a look at the server situation, only to discover that (not mentioned in server choices) this is a German language server. I chose the server because the choices said "population normal" and I liked the name "Wayfinder" (which does not sound remotely German). A couple hours ago, I reviewed the rules on server transfer, only to discover that if I wanted to transfer I would have to pay about $20. That is ludicrous.

I chose to start DDO because Dofus, which I have played for around five years is nearly dead, at least the multi-account server, Echo, is, despite last year's server merger, which was destroyed when they almost immediately opened several mono-account servers. Basically, I chose DDO because I wanted to find a game that had a long life, and pnp DnD is something I liked as a child. However, I will not waste two more weeks grinding back to this level, and I will not pay for anything until I know clients get some respect (I spent ~200 euros last year on Dofus, so it is DDO's loss if I am not turned into a client).

Glad to have you. Just roll on a new server. Level 7 is nothing.

Khyber is looking for new fish.

Come on by.

:cool:

[Lalangamena]

maybe they should merge wayfinder with thelanis? .. hint hint....

[Nekorain]

It can be hard for new players to find connection on wayfinder or to get special items but there are players and guilds who are willing to help you if you ask them.
When you are alone on wayfinder try to join a guild, wayfinder has some good active guilds who recruit. Teaparty of Teabags, Densetsu no Samurai, Your Part Time Guild are 3 of these guilds which are also bring up raids.
They have some kind players who explain you different things or help you out.

For people who like a huge company and like to run often with different people or join a lot of lfms is wayfinder not the right server.
This server is more for people who enjoy a small good company or like to have fun with friends and for players who have no problem if not always anyone there to do something together.
Wayfinder has some really nice players, thats why myself and some other people like to stay on this server and not because we all are antisocial or can not afford a server transfer.

Wayfinder was maybe considered to be a german server in the past which unfortunately harms the server until today, even if they have removed the DE behind the server name.
There a several non german players and guilds on wayfinder and not only european players.
I dont undertstand why they dont change the german wayfinder forum or remove the DE in the bug report. A general forum for germans is fine, but please remove wayfinder from it.
I think one of the reason why some people avoid the server is because they think its a server for germans.

[Grimgnaw]

Nim, sorry to see you go. best of luck in your travels! Hope your LFM all ways fill.

Leeooo the Red

[Oddler]

They should merge the lowest pop servers

I'm sure DDO loses a lot of players due to lack of other people to interact with.

I agree with the fact interaction shouldn't be forced but I get lonely sometimes, I often find myself leaving the game to do other things when I cant find any groups I'm looking for

Since I hit 14-15 ugh lonely and dull

[Varsha]

I did the same around the beginning of the new year and moved over to Thelanis
with three or four others. Interestingly enough I've found several people from
Wayfinder there. But yeah I transferred two toons over with me and saving
up to pull over my last night. SSG needs to reconsider the price of server
transfers... ESPECIALLY from a server that has such low population.

~Kas

[psykopeta]

Saying wayinder is the german server doesn't mean it's not dead

In fact it's some bad resources management having 1 server with that low population

I would be happy if they merged thelanis and wayfinder, maybe we would have more lfm or ppl playing lol