VIP, servers transfers and fiscal irresponsability

[mikarddo]

Dude enough with the transfer concerns .people have been waiting since oct 26th im gonna assume u arent one of em ....they messed up, havent taken the bull by the horns to fix this issue when it became clear there was a issue as matter of fact other servers became untransferable later .........they also promised lol ..........u want deathnail to the servers that are named orien sarlona go ahead with your proposals and so u can keep your petty game just how u like it they will die

Ï want the HC characters that were unable to move to Sarlona or Orion to be able to move to Sarlona or Orion - with only the gear gotten from HC. Thats fair.

I very much do not want everyone from any server to be able to move freely to Sarlona or Orion with any gear from any server. That emphatically is not fair. Now, if they allow free move to any server thats a different matter.

So, I certainly do not wiish any ill for those two servers - but I also do not wish ill for the other servers as the "free for all" to move to Sarlona or Orion would be.

If you read anything else from my posts I hope you will take the time to reread them with this in mind.

[Kelledren]

Fiscally irrespnsible might be correct when it comes to giving free gold rolls to VIP. SSG is more likely to have the numbers on sales to back that up than we are to be able to judge by guessing. So, I am not going to judge that particular decision.

However, a couple more things are fiscally irresponsible and more so in my book.

c) It gets worse though, fiscally. Anyone on one of the two favored servers will be able to move up to 11 free xp pots from each of the other servers depending on the expansions they have bought. Thats 77 free xp pots. Not to mention any other items they may have rolled on those servers. To prevent that SSGs needs not only to restrict the free move to characters that came from HC but also restrict them to being able to carry items that orginated from HC. Oh, and if you have characters on Wayfinder from 2020 they may have both a heroic and an epic xp stone (btc atleast) so if you care to you can have another mid epic level character in a few mins if that strikes your fancy. Try to tell me that wont entice a significant amount of people to move servers even if it means losing the shards and airship they might have / be part of? Use the shards before you xfer and there are plenty of guilds to join with maxed out ships making the loss rather small and the gain rather large if you are not currently closely attached!

For one I disagree with you that pulling back on the free transfers to Orien and Sarlona is a solution. This was promised as the solution to an issue that was occurring real time during the HC transfer period and going back on this would be a disaster.

As for fiscally irresponsible for those with expansion goodies or stored up free gold rolls: Yes many people probably have tons of goods on all servers they don’t play on, especially if they took the time to roll gold rolls every day on each server. I also purchased the season pass (because I was newer and owned nothing but expansion packs- thought this would be a good way to own some packs) and have daily gold rolls from that period on each server as well. Unfortunately my server is Khyber, so I will be moving as much as I can to Orien from all the servers, then will be PAYING for a transfer to Khyber. I’m guessing there will be large uptick in paid transfers after this period which will offset some losses. Yeah I do use my xp/slayer pots from gold rolls- but really would not buy them otherwise. I heard of others who feel the same, so this is not really going to be a huge loss in revenue for SSG.

As far as people transferring to Orien and Sarlona and wiping out populations on other servers, I really think that is a nothing burger, as many people have their friends and guilds established. I would love to server merges, but this is not the way to go about it. Some people will and good for them. If they are unhappy with the current population on their server, numbers or otherwise, then this is a chance at a restart. If I was on Wayfinder I would move for sure out of that ghost town. But for the most part I do not think their will be a significant change in populations outside Orien and Sarlona getting a big spike in dice rollers initially, then seeing a permanent smaller population spike after those dice rollers get deleted.

[superevbully]

Ï want the HC characters that were unable to move to Sarlona or Orion to be able to move to Sarlona or Orion - with only the gear gotten from HC. Thats fair.

I very much do not want everyone from any server to be able to move freely to Sarlona or Orion with any gear from any server. That emphatically is not fair. Now, if they allow free move to any server thats a different matter.

So, I certainly do not wiish any ill for those two servers - but I also do not wish ill for the other servers as the "free for all" to move to Sarlona or Orion would be.

If you read anything else from my posts I hope you will take the time to reread them with this in mind.

I have taken the time to read many of your concerns and frankly ssg is where u must be voicing them ....bear in mind that they started yet another hc season with the same promises of a transfer after as per usual rules in my mind for them to take that step ,to turn around months after the 1st borked transfer season and then not allow what was clearly stated would indeed sir be the deathnail of those 2 servers .People paid real money for additions to their seasons and deserve the goodies brought back no matter what ssg can and cant do. Cant restrict hc toons only TOO BAD.......will it cause the issues u describe in your opening post TOO BAD ......will people who transfer lose their guilds as etc TOO BAD ......this whole screwup has gone on long enough

[Smelt32]

My concerns with this, apparently, proposed free server transfer are multiple.

1. This is being talked about as free transfers being offered "for a time". This means that any of my members who are not currently playing will, possibly, be left behind on a decimated server. If the window of free transfers is subject to closing, then there will be multiple stranded players.

2. My guild and I will have to agree on a server, and will loose a Kraken, and all the renown/amenities on our ship. I see this as a pretty bald-faced cash grab by SSG. By their generous offer of 'free' transfers, they gloss over the cost of replacing what the guilds on other servers will be loosing. They apparently lack the desire to merge servers, so this is the easiest and least costly way for them to deal with the problem. I guess without a token to replace the cost of the airship and replenish all the renown, I can at least do a charge back on my credit card for the value of the Kraken, but I run the risk of having an account stolen by SSG.

3. From what I am hearing, more will be lost than airships, personal accounts will loose astral shards, mounts, and other bought/earned items. Without making people financially whole, they will simply decimate further their player base.

I continue to play this game for two reasons, the friends I have made over the years on Ghallanda and the addictive nature of power acquisition in an RPG/MMO. I think we can all see that this particular MMO has become increasingly less so over the years. I think this move will further erode the players we have to group with as people continue to quietly walk away. This game still makes them a ton of money, logical people would conclude that they would want to take care of the customers they have left.


Hegemone, Helter Skelter, Ghallanda

This, right here, is the problem with the free server swap. A certain section of the population see it as a server merge. The free transfers are going to happen because people on two servers haven't been able to move the HC chars tot their main server.

so to answer your points....

1. yes people who aren't playing at the time of the free swap will not be able to move servers for free..... because this isn't a server merge.

2. yes if you move you will lose your guild and airship etc. Because thats what happens when you transfer from HC server. It isn't a cash grab by SSG because it isn't meant to be used in that way.

3. Yes if you move you lose you shards and mounts and unlock favour things and no you shouldn't be "made whole" because this isn't a server merge it is meant to let people on the two servers get their HC toons. Those HC toons that lose their shards and mounts ETC when you take them from the HC server.

Now I'm not saying you can't, or shouldn't use the opportunity to move all you toons etc to a new server, but don't expect it to work like a server merge when it isn't a server merge. It's quacking like a duck and walking like a duck and you are expecting to find a swan.

[superevbully]

Ï want the HC characters that were unable to move to Sarlona or Orion to be able to move to Sarlona or Orion - with only the gear gotten from HC. Thats fair.

I very much do not want everyone from any server to be able to move freely to Sarlona or Orion with any gear from any server. That emphatically is not fair. Now, if they allow free move to any server thats a different matter.

So, I certainly do not wiish any ill for those two servers - but I also do not wish ill for the other servers as the "free for all" to move to Sarlona or Orion would be.

If you read anything else from my posts I hope you will take the time to reread them with this in mind.

Also its gotten to the point where im shocked gaming websites havent heard about this and taken them to task or at the least made people aware the hc isnt what is advertised

[Onyxia2019]

I think it goes without saying most everyone loved the daily gold rolls. You can count me in that list as well.
Having said that I can understand why SSG may have seen fit to end them. Last night I bought my first XP elixir in a long time since I used up the ones I got from rolls. Grant it the point cost was not much but depending on how many players are needing to do the same thing, that could add up.

Only SSG knows what the balance sheet data is showing. If they saw a huge dip in profits during the free daily gold role then obviously something needed to be done.
The company needs to make a profit to sustain the game and future growth. If you want new content or older quests chains added to legendary there is a cost.

I do not want to be one of those players that can say, "Yay we got daily gold rolls back", right up until the servers shutdown for good.

SSG does not have the financial power of say Blizzard/Activision or Sony. They have to keep an eye on the cost and keep in mind there is not a set amount of revenue coming in each quarter. It ebbs and flows so they have to always keep a reserve on hand for potential long ebbs in the revenue.

I am not saying there should not be a VIP loyalty alternative and it should have been in place just prior to canceling the daily gold roll. I am only speculating that someone in accounting spoke up in a board meeting and said we have a problem, which lead to the abrupt end to the rolls as a stop cap measure.

Again this is just speculation based on my own real world experience and what company information we have access.
I am talking about the the forums but what is available on SSG as a privately help company.

Look into Enad Global 7 which is not private so you can get some ideas. Case in point is their Q3 2022 interim report. DDO is only mentioned one time in conjunction with the release of the D&D movie. Based on the CEO's message at the start of the document they saw Lord of The Rings revenue growth based on the Amazon series and it looks like they are expecting the same for DDO.

[Sylvado]

Ï want the HC characters that were unable to move to Sarlona or Orion to be able to move to Sarlona or Orion - with only the gear gotten from HC. Thats fair.

That would not be a simple task.

[mikarddo]

That would not be a simple task.

Unless you work for SSG neither of us know that for a fact - but I certainly agree that is overwhelmingly likely to be correct.

So, SSG very likely can't do the right thing and allow only xfer of characters and items that came from HC.
They obviously also cannot skip the free xfer entirely as they very much owe that to the stranded characters from HC.

That leaves two options.
a) Grossly favor 2 of the servers by allowing only free xfer to those servers. Definitely negative implications to the other servers.
b) Allow free xfer to all servers to level the playing field.

Neither is a really good option but those are the ones they are left with. I certainly think they need to pick option b even with the downsides it entails as giving two servers (and the players on those) such advantages is simply much worse.

[Eantarus]

Unless you work for SSG neither of us know that for a fact - but I certainly agree that is overwhelmingly likely to be correct.

So, SSG very likely can't do the right thing and allow only xfer of characters and items that came from HC.
They obviously also cannot skip the free xfer entirely as they very much owe that to the stranded characters from HC.

That leaves two options.
a) Grossly favor 2 of the servers by allowing only free xfer to those servers. Definitely negative implications to the other servers.
b) Allow free xfer to all servers to level the playing field.

Neither is a really good option but those are the ones they are left with. I certainly think they need to pick option b even with the downsides it entails as giving two servers (and the players on those) such advantages is simply much worse.

Why are you all so convinced tons of people are going to transfer? It seems much more likely most will use the transfer window as intended.

[Dandonk]

Why are you all so convinced tons of people are going to transfer? It seems much more likely most will use the transfer window as intended.

I've heard from two guilds so far that are actively considering it.

[Reign.]

It should be possible to mark the characters that were originally from HC assuming they have a creation timestamp. Setting the transfers to only be from that range would reduce the impact at least.

Doesn't solve the gear or ability to load up those characters with goodies though, but part of making it right, SSG seems willing to take that hit.

Which, I guess I don't see an folks packing up a bunch of goodies and moving them to a single server. If that is a big issue then opening this up to every server multiplies that problem. So sticking to only the servers affected makes the most sense to me.

That being said though, we don't know all the details about this open server transfer window. They're taking their sweet time with it so I'd wager there is more going on than just a bug fix and price adjustment.

Also, do we really think there is going to be a mass exodus onto these servers? Can't imagine too many would want to functionally throw away pets, mounts, shards, and relationships unless they were already looking to (potentially) move servers.

[Drekisen]

Excuse me if I am being dense, but is this whole server transfer thing in regards to HC players only and losing ships gained while on that server. I thought this pertained to normal server transfers.

But yeah, to reiterate, +25% XP and start at level four, SSG you have my guaranteed $100 yearly sub! DO IT!

[Eantarus]

I've heard from two guilds so far that are actively considering it.

Ok. Yeah. Then that's a problem.

[mikarddo]

Can't imagine too many would want to functionally throw away pets, mounts, shards, and relationships unless they were already looking to (potentially) move servers.

I am not looking to move server myself - but as far as I am concerned pets and mounts have no real value and I would get some of those on any server anyway from expansions purchases. Shards may be an issue if you have alot and nothing on the shard AH you care to spend it on. Relationship are the real issue obviously but if you have a few close friends you may simply decide to move together largely solving that issue.

I dont expect "a ton" of people to move. But I am very confident we will see guilds from Sarlona and Orion actively post to cross server recruit when the details finally emerge, and that a number of people that is not insignificant will actually move because its free and they can grab the goodies from all servers that way.

Why would anyone not expect that to happen?

[wolfy42]

I have a few solutions for the server transfer problem.

First, I want to say that it could have been totally avoided if a specific server was designated to be where you should transfer HC characters when you couldn't transfer them to your home server for any reason.

That would then eventually allow free transfers from that server alone to ANY other server later on (although technically should only be the two that couldn't, it wouldn't be fair to everyone else if you didn't make it to any server).

That ship sailed though, so on to solutions.

First, it should be possible to only allow transfer of characters with the ~1 after the name. Admittingly that might not actually catch ALL the HC chars, but it would probably work for most of them and prevent people from transfering non-HC characters. Again would have been better if this was announced in advance though (so you could make sure there was already a char with that name on the server you were transfering to), but that would be a compromise that would see alot of the HC chars being transfered, while not having tons of other people take advantage of the server transfers.

Second, stop charging for server transfers at all, convert daily rolls to per account and bonus items etc to per account as well, and let players transfer characters for free at this point.

That would allow the game to eventually settle into a comfortable # of players on each server. Perhaps even make it only a benefit of VIP (all server transfers are free for VIP).

People want to transfer because of limited population, so let them. That prevents any server from becoming a wasteland, or if it does, the people in the wasteland can also transfer at any time in the future, for free.

Also work on making it so you don't lose your guild ship, or can transfer it, even if it costs a bit to transfer the ships at least. Shards can also be used to buy something that you can click on to get shards, that will transfer between servers (bag of 5 shards for instance). Easy solution to transfering shards. Have difference sizes as well.

At least the guild ship and shard problems should be extremely easy to fix/code. Streamling transfering so anyone can do it. Maybe make it significantly cheaper and allow players to buy full server transfers (All characters on a server) for a set (and not excessive) price. Don't want to add it to VIP....just make it 500 DDO points for a full transfer of all chars on a server then.

Point is, aim towards making the game more fun for everyone, dont' exclude people, and don't go back on what you have said. The whole transfer thing was done poorly and a solution could have been made at the time that would not have caused so many issues. That time has passed and people were promised something, so NOT giving transfers to the two servers is not a good idea/bad policy for sure. IF you could identify past HC characters (the ~1 thing for instance) then just giving transfers to them might work, but honestly, just make the game better over all and allow transfers for everyone. There are many other ways to make money and sell things in the store.

[Eantarus]

Why would anyone not expect that to happen?

If you work for SSG you obviously would not expect this to happen.

[Kelledren]

Why would anyone not expect that to happen?

I guess I didn’t think about whole guilds leaving together. But still there will be server account issues that everyone would have to be ok with- and likely some will be left behind as the transfer window will be small- couple weeks at most.

I guess we will see what happens.

[KoobTheProud]

I wouldn't expect established guilds to transfer to either of the servers. If they're established and raiding ok they are probably happy where they are. I would expect declining guilds to make the jump, primarily members of those guilds frustrated that they can't raid as often as they like too due to declining guild membership. My guess would be the target server for these jumps would be Sarlona - which has an active raiding community and several guilds that raid with PUG's.

I think the most likely jumpers are going to be players with pocket guilds that have finished their build and are beginning to realize that it is hard on most servers to find regular raids in that situation. They'll leave another character as GM of the pocket guild and make the jump to Sarlona most likely in search of a raiding guild to adopt them. This is particularly likely if they spent a lot of time grinding to do high reaper content.

[SavageDoom]

Solutions:
VIP is not hard to fix in a financially responsible way.
- up the xp bonus to +25%
- allow VIP to start at level 4 after a TR
Cost: none (or as close to it as possible). No lost revenue and near no dev time to make it happen. Just do it!

some people get stingy.
Let's compromise and go for 15% xp bonus for VIPs
and allow each character with more than 10 PLs to start at lvl 4.

[Eantarus]

some people get stingy.
Let's compromise and go for 15% xp bonus for VIPs
and allow each character with more than 10 PLs to start at lvl 4.

How about if instead of starting at lvl 4 you get a btc XP stone worth 100,000 XP every month, free on 1 character? Then those that want to skip to lvl 4 can, those that want to clear the 18-20 hump can get it done faster, really there's nowhere 100,000 XP isn't appreciated.