Worrisome

[ShooterSix]

It's almost 2:00am est time, and every single server has light populations except some factions in blackbeard, some factions in rackham, and some factions in antigua. Remember, none of these server have above "moderate."

This is less than last weekend.

I love this game, and I worry, the population is dropping, what happens when the free month is up? Even worse?

Merge servers please.

People in low populated servers leave, making the low populated even less populated, its a vicious cycle.

[SWBgHz]

It was that way in prime time 10 EST too - the game is in serious crisis in terms of populations. FLS should merge server immediately if not sooner, it is outright ridiculous they haven't done so already and even worse they are not vocal and honest with the players about it.

And to top it off - they are fudging the numbers now. Last week a moderate population meant at least 200 and up to around 250 or so players online. The last few nights I have logged in to find moderate showed (with /whocount) as low as 129 players. Can you imagine - 129 players for a faction is a moderate population now? That means that on my main server, Morgan, French are always light and Spanish are as well with Brits and pirates sometimes at moderate of at off peak times at light. So add it up - two lights and two moderates means what - possibly as little as 300 to 500 players on an MMO server? And one of the 'more' populated servers too - pitiful.

Server merges now FLS! You are being irresponsible managers of the game not dealing with this issue immediately. And it is only going to get worse when people have to decide to subscribe or not based on pitifully underpopulated servers run by a company ignoring the plight of their customers.

The 'included' 30 days ends in less than a week, FLS should act before then or it is really going to get bad.

[Sergio Del Rosa]

I think maybe we need more threads on this.

Or possibly, bear with me...let FLS do what they want. They've got more experience in managing an MMO than any of us, let them do as they please. This is silly.

[Bizzy Le Beast]

Originally Posted by Sergio Del Rosa I think maybe we need more threads on this. Or possibly, bear with me...let FLS do what they want. They've got more experience in managing an MMO than any of us, let them do as they please. This is silly.

Actually im pretty sure its their first. Whats silly is their lack of a proper response to this obvious problem..

Its like a swollen eyed wife telling a friend "I fell up the stairs".

But I agree... I grow tired of the multiple threads..

Its a shame that it always happens.. When the question is ignored in each and every thread.

[SWBgHz]

Originally Posted by Bizzy Le Beast Actually im pretty sure its their first. Whats silly is their lack of a proper response to this obvious problem..

Exactly. All due respect to FLS they are dropping the ball here and undoing their well earned reputation for being communicative and responsive to the community.

[Recks]

Originally Posted by Sergio Del Rosa I think maybe we need more threads on this. Or possibly, bear with me...let FLS do what they want. They've got more experience in managing an MMO than any of us, let them do as they please. This is silly.

I could tell that they were very experienced launching mmos during the first weekend of live when the most populated servers blew up.

[CutlassJack]

I think Sergio's point was (and correct me if I'm wrong): "How many MMOs have you managed?"

[OddjobXL]

They can do what they want but I'd suggest offering a one-time server transfer before slopping us all together every which-a-way. Bonny's a great place with a nice mature population and I'd hate to see that go downhill. We're constantly getting new individuals fleeing from other servers and very glad they've found us. I'm certain other servers have their own strengths and attitudes towards the game and would like to keep those intact as well.

So let people pick and chose. People who want high pop/frenetic activity regardless of the downsides can do that. People who like a more laidback and casual approach to gameplay with mature players as company can have that too.

[Cavell]

Originally Posted by OddjobXL They can do what they want but I'd suggest offering a one-time server transfer before slopping us all together every which-a-way. Bonny's a great place with a nice mature population and I'd hate to see that go downhill. We're constantly getting new individuals fleeing from other servers and very glad they've found us. I'm certain other servers have their own strengths and attitudes towards the game and would like to keep those intact as well. So let people pick and chose. People who want high pop/frenetic activity regardless of the downsides can do that. People who like a more laidback and casual approach to gameplay with mature players as company can have that too.

That's one way of putting it, certainly. I'd argue for the opposing view, but there's not a lot of point to it. I never saw a melee hunter successfully convinced that their spec was ridiculous in WoW, for example.

[bad_karma5]

Due to it's economy and RvR based play PotBS needs a decent amount of players on a server for it to work.

If that's not happening then they need to start merging/transfering or they will inevitably lose players as those unused servers get lighter and lighter. Surely better to "pack 'em in" to the busy servers and give new players a look at how the game can really be when it's alive and buzzing, not to mention keeping the existing players.

I'm on Roberts in GMT prime so this is a non-issue for me, but I can see it's starting to effect people a lot.