Looking over to the old grandpa of DAoC freeshards things are pretty grim. Its by all means a dead server right now.
Did it have to be? Well probably not. There was ample opportunity to change course and things might have turned out for the better.
Was it the slow XP, the lack of QoL, old RA or lack of content?
Nah I dont think so, those are all symptoms.
What really killed Uthgard was their lack of communication and interaction with their community and the resulting alienation from the players.
When they started and had 4k players trying to get onto their server the Devs probably had a natural high, god complex incoming. They thought whatever they did, people would love it. Critics were just stupid and if things evidently turned for the worse they were looking for increasingly stupid theories to explain away the problems of the server (e.g. more people will play in winter). And most of all they tried to control the discussion by belittleing players on the forums, closing threads or downright deleting commentaries they didnt like.
That is the worst recipe for desaster.
What has that to do with Phoenix? Well Phoenix is in a similar situation right now. The server flourishes, player numbers are amazing. And the progressive changes introduced to the server work very well and engage the players. There is a lot of praise to be had and that might get to ones head, just like on Uthgard.
During the last few weeks I noticed an increasing tendency of threads being closed and necessary discussions being stopped dead in their tracks. At the same time I feel like community feedback is not taken into account on important matters.
When the new relic raid system was introduced (basically over night) people had constructive criticsm. Now over a month after launch we know this criticism was well founded.
Now you introduced a new task system without consulting the community and in effect further funnel players into zerg RvR. The discussion was locked already.
There are more small examples of changes where you could have consulted the community to find a broader consensus on how Phoenix could flourish as a server.
The feedback of your community is valuable. Try to rely more on it. Try to find ways to include community feedback into a transparent decision making process. And allow room for discussion and even negative feedback on the forums.
Even though debates get heated and people sometimes hit a wrong tone of voice, they have good intentions. Everyone taking the time to voice feedback here obviously cares deeply enough about Phoenix. Dont take this as a "They dont appreciate our work", quite the contrary is true. Everyone does (probably even the annoying DDOS dude, why else would he put so much time into getting your attention? Poor lonely stalker).
Anyhow please think about it and maybe change the path of the last weeks just a little.
Did it have to be? Well probably not. There was ample opportunity to change course and things might have turned out for the better.
Was it the slow XP, the lack of QoL, old RA or lack of content?
Nah I dont think so, those are all symptoms.
What really killed Uthgard was their lack of communication and interaction with their community and the resulting alienation from the players.
When they started and had 4k players trying to get onto their server the Devs probably had a natural high, god complex incoming. They thought whatever they did, people would love it. Critics were just stupid and if things evidently turned for the worse they were looking for increasingly stupid theories to explain away the problems of the server (e.g. more people will play in winter). And most of all they tried to control the discussion by belittleing players on the forums, closing threads or downright deleting commentaries they didnt like.
That is the worst recipe for desaster.
What has that to do with Phoenix? Well Phoenix is in a similar situation right now. The server flourishes, player numbers are amazing. And the progressive changes introduced to the server work very well and engage the players. There is a lot of praise to be had and that might get to ones head, just like on Uthgard.
During the last few weeks I noticed an increasing tendency of threads being closed and necessary discussions being stopped dead in their tracks. At the same time I feel like community feedback is not taken into account on important matters.
When the new relic raid system was introduced (basically over night) people had constructive criticsm. Now over a month after launch we know this criticism was well founded.
Now you introduced a new task system without consulting the community and in effect further funnel players into zerg RvR. The discussion was locked already.
There are more small examples of changes where you could have consulted the community to find a broader consensus on how Phoenix could flourish as a server.
The feedback of your community is valuable. Try to rely more on it. Try to find ways to include community feedback into a transparent decision making process. And allow room for discussion and even negative feedback on the forums.
Even though debates get heated and people sometimes hit a wrong tone of voice, they have good intentions. Everyone taking the time to voice feedback here obviously cares deeply enough about Phoenix. Dont take this as a "They dont appreciate our work", quite the contrary is true. Everyone does (probably even the annoying DDOS dude, why else would he put so much time into getting your attention? Poor lonely stalker).
Anyhow please think about it and maybe change the path of the last weeks just a little.