Hello Team,
Yesterday, I was thinking with my brother on the timeline from the server and how the population would be impacted.
- Alpha seems to be quite successful given tracker posts.
- Beta is scheduled to start in June, this would likely bring more population and make testing / playing better.
- Then CU will launch open beta in July. Being the natural heir of daoc, most free shards should expect a drain. This drain might create a snowball effect on most server a.k.a. "nobody is playing, then I leave too". I don't wish for it, but I have seen it many times on other freeshards and it would be naive to think otherwise.
At this stage, as a future Phoenix player, I am asking myself the following questions :
- Given the current status of the build, why are we waiting to launch the beta and risk a conflict with CU beta? the game seems mostly viable.
- How long will the open beta last and how likely am I to invest myself? I know it is a tricky question, but some servers have open beta lasting a year which tells player that it is ok to lvl crafting, and start creating guild/community. However, a short beta of a couple of month would simply be a repeat of the alpha with simply more players to perform stress test on the server loads.
- Since CU is planned to release end of the year (yes the timeline is movable, but due to the significant cash influx, it is likely to materialize) the launch timing has to be at least a trimester before or after the launch. Before it will say to the player : ok for you to invest yourself but there will be a risk of population crumble; after it will tell to players it is ok to invest during the open beta and will have a safety buffer of 3 months after CU launch for the novelty to fade.
I am aware that there is a lot of speculation above, and that there is no crystal ball to tell how things will be. But I do think it is important to have a dialogue to exchange ideas.
Hed.
Yesterday, I was thinking with my brother on the timeline from the server and how the population would be impacted.
- Alpha seems to be quite successful given tracker posts.
- Beta is scheduled to start in June, this would likely bring more population and make testing / playing better.
- Then CU will launch open beta in July. Being the natural heir of daoc, most free shards should expect a drain. This drain might create a snowball effect on most server a.k.a. "nobody is playing, then I leave too". I don't wish for it, but I have seen it many times on other freeshards and it would be naive to think otherwise.
At this stage, as a future Phoenix player, I am asking myself the following questions :
- Given the current status of the build, why are we waiting to launch the beta and risk a conflict with CU beta? the game seems mostly viable.
- How long will the open beta last and how likely am I to invest myself? I know it is a tricky question, but some servers have open beta lasting a year which tells player that it is ok to lvl crafting, and start creating guild/community. However, a short beta of a couple of month would simply be a repeat of the alpha with simply more players to perform stress test on the server loads.
- Since CU is planned to release end of the year (yes the timeline is movable, but due to the significant cash influx, it is likely to materialize) the launch timing has to be at least a trimester before or after the launch. Before it will say to the player : ok for you to invest yourself but there will be a risk of population crumble; after it will tell to players it is ok to invest during the open beta and will have a safety buffer of 3 months after CU launch for the novelty to fade.
I am aware that there is a lot of speculation above, and that there is no crystal ball to tell how things will be. But I do think it is important to have a dialogue to exchange ideas.
Hed.
