Dedicated Servers?

[strallaalaa]

so thought i'd throw out an idea i had, this will be my 3rd thread and my last 2 were a flunk and this one probably will be as well lol. but i figure maybe it's a good idea that people would like to see.

basically the idea is just like old COD games for pc they had dedicated servers. and while i don't think it could work just like that for a huge mmo with many people and expensive servers. i think they can give us something like this in some extent. not controlled by players but by the dev company itself, with a list of options to chose from when we create our characters and roll onto a server. maybe like a quick check list on what options you like and it gives you the servers you can join.

my thoughts are maybe having a huge list of different things set up by the mmo company(obviously it's too late for this for ffxiv) like check marks for what you want in your mmo experience. from percent drop rates, to forced party play, to grinds or no grinds, what have you. basically anything they feel fit to the game. and then you can join that server with those things.

if the game is built on this basis from the get go they can even have things like party grouping(autogrouping) still, and things that any server can do together. like a dungeon, long as your geared for it ...it shouldn't really matter witch servers you come from, stuff like that. but at same time it gives everyone that nitch mmo feel. it can cater to every ones likes and dislikes this way.

the only possible problems i can see with this is first kills/server firsts on some of the easier types of servers first, or people not wanting to be separated by these types of things? would everyone here hate that others that are in easier servers get there kills first? or would casuals feel like they are still not getting the whole mmo feel even though they are rocking the best gear since everyone there is casual?

also maybe they can literally have dedicated servers where the players are paying for it, where we have the 12bucks a month like normal and then there is an extra charge for everyone on that server to keep it up and running. say 2-3bucks a month, what have you. can be a nice way to get some extra cash revenue from players and not have a cash shop. lol pay for less on some servers, pay for more on others.

also this can be a great way for a mmo company to truly figure out what it is that people truly want and not think they want. they can see where the players flock to server wise. and they can work there new mmo's with these ideas in place too. maybe can remove rmt since players don't have to be on the grindiest servers and can pick a set up that suits them, heck maybe we will all end up playing on multiple servers and can get an appreciation for other types of game play.

i think games like maple story has different types of servers too but not like the way i'm thinking. also we already have pvp and pve servers that some mmo's are doing. d3 even though isn't a mmo has 2 types as well. but expanding on this can hook basically every type of mmo gamer to the game.

i'ma probably have like 4players in this thread at all and they will all say they hate the idea like my other 2 ideas lmao but i figure this has got to be a really good idea and concept that all mmo's can take a step back and look at as being part of any mmo. what you guys think? would you like this or no and why the heck not?

suggested possible choices to have for servers:

death penalties (like ffxi) aka not permadeath as some are mistaken but more extreme penalties like loss of exp that ffxi had.
role playing options
all party play options (leveling/dungeons/content)
higher or lower drop rates
higher or lower grinds to max
level caps
different level difficulties in mobs

[Dannythm]

Servers with permadeath, exp loss as death penalty, etc... it could be a way to make happy a lot of FFXI vets, and if the variety of options is wide enough there could be servers for the 100% hardcore to the 100% casual.

I like the idea but I think it's highly improbable, as devs usually want all the players to have the same experience, regardless of platform or genre.

I think this system works in shooters mainly because the "core" of the experience is unchanged, it just modify the context of it, but in a mmo the core of the experience is very much tied with the game world and rules, so to define a core to modify the context may become harder.

None the less it's really a good idea that someone in the mmo industry should explore.

[strallaalaa]

yeah i was thinking the same as for the difficulty of building a mmo like this. but i figure if they start from the top, like the most hardcore, all they would need to do is dumb it down for all other servers types. they probably could still do this with the same difficulties as making a mmo like ffxi or old mmo's. (it's basically saying this is the hardest we want it and longest it will take to reach max, and then lossen the belt with many many other options) plus most mmo's are doing multiple types of difficulties, we started with stars on link leves even in ffxiv. gw2 gets harder with the more players that are in the area, so they can probably do this with minimum problems.

[Dannythm]

Hmmm I think the starting point would be to define what the devs want to be the essence of the experience in the MMO, the core I was mentioning in my previous post, and from there, work the context in which this experience will be presented, and what variables this context offers.

For example if the core of the game is the character progression, things as experience rates or gear gains (everything that makes the character advance in one way or another), should be static, but in this example, the amount of solo or group content could be variable, meaning you could have servers with harder mobs that encourage a FFXI grouping style gameplay, and others where mobs are easier thus promoting solo play.

If the core of the experience is the story, the the character progression is a variable and could be changed.

Is gear gathering the core? pvp? exploring?

If the intention is a mix of all, the we have a problem because the whole game is the core, so no variables would be left to change...

[Dannythm]

Thinking about it a bit more, I've come that several MMO's already offer a somehow similar version of this idea.

WoW, Tera, ToR, etc, as all of them are built with PvP in mind, they offer different server configurations depending on the playstyle you want: PvE to focus on raiding and instances and world pvp is by default deactivate except in the PvP areas, PvP where world pvp is active everywhere except in sanctuaries, and their variations as Role Play server (RP-PvE and RP-PvP).

As ARR is not being designed with PvP in mind, as it will be another aspect of the game but not the main focus, I don't know if this approach would be valid here, but still, I think if the dev team would think this thoroughly they would find a way to offer this kind of variety on the server selection.

I'm going to add this to my what would you love to see in ARR? thread.

Edit: I know you already mentioned this in the original thread, just wanted to point it out more.

[Momita]

I hope only one thing, that, if I remember, Yoshi already promised... a Role-Play Server! Give to Us this type of server and a lot of people would be happy
Permanent Death Server seems funny.. but seems maybe too impossible to made it for SE

[Alhanelem]

Except for role play (which they are considering) all of those ideas are silly. high/low drop servers? who the hell would play on a low drop server?

[Xatsh]

RP servers I agree with, that is a great idea.

Servers with Low drop rates, low XP, Perma Death...... there would be very very few who would play on a server with worse drop rate, xp, or perma death. And I am one of those hardcore who woke up at 4am to kill a dragon. I can garentee this is absolutly the last thing hardcore players want.

I do not see hardly anyone playing on those kind of servers, hardcore players or other wise.

Taking the harder path to the same result is prime example of stupid. Would be like telling your boss you would work for minimum wage instead of $30/hr and being happy just would not happen.

[indira]

only SE has dedicated servers.

people would cheat if they have control over the servers and screw up the game. just like pirate servers.

[moriandrio]

like you said its a feature from COD and similar games, nothing for a MMO. If you want to create your own rules etc. do what ppl always did make a pserver.