Hardcore Server should be permanent for player retention

[Captain_Wizbang]

*Edited*

The topic is for discussion only. I have no feelings either way for the event. I like it.

[cdbd3rd]

Part of it's appeal was that it was a special event.

If it became just another thing, then it would soon just be another thing.

[HungarianRhapsody]

If they make the Hardcore server permanent, I’ll cancel my sub and leave the game myself.

Having the regular servers so empty was awful. It’s cool that a lot of people liked HC, but not everyone wants to play that way and SSG has made it clear with their deafening silence that there won’t be a server merge, so HELL NO on the permanent HC server.

[darkniteyogi]

i would consider going VIP if there was a permanent Hardcore server.

I like the idea that it is an equalizer to people who have 300 past lives and all the gear and people who don't.

I like the game to be fresh again. I would love to try HARDCORE sever just that i am only a premium player. If i knew it were permanent, or that my character won't be deleted after the season, then I would consider paying for VIP.

If it were a premium feature, then even better.

[Kinerd]

I know for fact of a small segment of players that have left this game, and came back for the HCL and loved it. But refuse to play on live for many reasons.

if one of those reasons is server population, before we make a permanent HC server we should try out a de facto server merge event under normal DDO rules. this will help us measure the relative weights of the factors - since we can surely agree that some people were turned on and off by HC, and some people were turned on and off by a single server environment, the only way to know for sure is get actual quantitative measurements of the "somes"

[Losercrew]

what is the hardcore server?

[SirValentine]

Having the regular servers so empty was awful. It’s cool that a lot of people liked HC, but not everyone wants to play that way

Agreed.

[Coffey]

Retaining Veteran players and new players is the over all goal for SSGs survival. I think the integration of new players to DDO is far easier with HCL being able to play with a large player base like it was. If it was F2P as well there would be even more new players in the game and a much higher population in the regular servers after the seasons end IMO. But the new F2P players would be back to the base content and SOL after the league ends so idk.

[Nebless]

what is the hardcore server?

Think along the lines of Perma-death. It was a VIP only, 3 month long server. The goal of which was to be the last man standing with the highest level, favor, other stuff that could be measured from that 3 month time. Rewards were bragging rights and cosmetic's.

So you created a brand new lvl 1 character on that server and played it until you died. When that happened your character ended up in front of an NPC that would transfer you off the HC server to a normal server. So unlike a real perma-death act, you only 'died' on the HC server and could continue playing your character on a normal one.

On the good side it brought in money for SSG (VIP only), the server was crowded, lots of grouping etc... etc... just like when the game was new and had a lot of players.

On the bad side all the other servers were close to ghost towns. Very few groups etc... etc.... Pretty much the rest of the game 'paused' when the HC was running.

---------------

I'd vote against it running all the time, just because they'd be no way to have a 'winner' like you can when you give it an end date. And I don't think it would be good for the over all health of the game. You'd pretty much be telling everyone that to see other players and have a chance to group that the games gone back to a subscription model. Premium and F2p players get a sub-par gaming world.

[NabeGewell]

what is the hardcore server?

It's a server where you pay money to pay more money for store pots, boosters, gold roll xp stones and access to the fotm op build for a chance of not dying from a game glitch and getting cosmetics. It's called Hardcore appropriately because your wallet gets double penetrated.

[TitusOvid]

There is the possibility that the 2nd run won't be as successful as the 1st. The people who weren't flashed won't go again (for such a long time) and I doubt the game has gained much more people that will take the ViP step just for some cosmetics and an ego stroke.
But maybe I am wrong.
I wish all of the enthusiasts a nice time.

Cheers,
Titus

[Memnir]

This game has a long history of running Special Events into the ground to the point where they loose the Special nature of them.

Keep them limited time, and only a very few times a year, please.

[Captain_Wizbang]

This game has a long history of running Special Events into the ground to the point where they loose the Special nature of them.

Keep them limited time, and only a very few times a year, please.

Even though I started the thread, I agree with you. My PnP group had a talk about it, and the initial remarks I made are reflective of that.

The point of the op was to start a discussion.

[KoobTheProud]

The other way to do hardcore would be to have it as a character setting at creation and keep leaderboards on each server for hardcore-tagged toons.

At least that way the hardcore player base wouldn't be isolated from the rest of the server populations the way they are now. It would also make it a lot easier for somebody to decide enough hardcore for today and go back to grouping with normal toons. The incentive and communications to do so would be more readily available.

SSG could restrict groups such that hardcore toons could only group with other hardcore toons to prevent the inevitable griefing that would occur with allowing hardcore and non-hardcore toons to interact directly in situations in which the hardcore toon was at risk.

I don't know if DDO lost any players that it would have retained absent the first hardcore season's ghost town effect but I'm pretty sure they'll lose people eventually to that effect. Living with it once is very different from having to live with it on an ongoing basis. It's not the problems with getting a group that are the big demoralizer, it's the extremely low pop and inability to interact with other players (in my opinion.)

[Sookuri]

I am a looong term DDO player and grew up playing paper and dice with my family, so have a big soft spot for the game, which probably makes me loyal beyond what is deserved. I was drawn to show off my skills (triple completionist - all lives x3) in Hardcore (got my bloody footprints in a previous season) but was heartbroken to fall repeatedly to lag on Hardcore. There is no way to avoid a lag jump into a trap. No way to avoid being snuffed by the hound while lagging out. All very depressing. Three lag deaths down and sadly, I have given up on Hardcore until I hear the situation is improved for UK players. The word is UK players do suffer more from lag generally - let's hope the powers that be take note and actually take a look. I requested a refund for all the payments I had made to buy tomes etc to give the toons some chance against the stacked odds, but typically I was met with a big fat NO and a denial of any lag issue. I am a bright, educated lady player with a science degree, an overtaxed sense of humor, and a keen sense of injustice, and found the response dismally inadequate and patronizing. It totally let the game down. I totally understand why people leave, faced with such brutal indifference.

Personally, re. the debate about general numbers in the game - I don't understand why the buddy xp bonus generally is not permanent. What exactly is the downside? Surely it would encourage people to play online with friends, which couldn't hurt general numbers in the game.