How to do seasons without losing anything

Cross posting this from the open vote subforum so the GMs can see my suggestion.

My suggestion is as follows:

1. Create a parallel server (Phoenix Seasons) where you cannot access any of the characters on your main phoenix server account. Lock the main phoenix server account for a period of up to 12 months. Force the fresh start.

2. At the conclusion of the 12 months, merge the parallel Phoenix server with the current one (like how live did it when they merged classic with Ywain), effectively allowing the "fresh start" server characters and the current Phoenix server to be played interchangeably on the current server. This accomplishes several goals:

a. Allows a balance/reset of power
b. Infuses new life into the server by offering players a fresh start but with the knowledge that they have 1 year until theyll be playable in the current high rank ecosystem
c. Gives everybody a new task/opportunity to play something different without the fear of being "behind"
d. Gives GMs the flexibility to make TEMPORARY settings for the "fresh start" parallel server i.e. possibly OF RAs, OF, etc. These highly desired settings could be reimplemented but simply on a temporary basis to give everybody "their fix" but knowing full well itll ultimately be merged into the current ecosystem.
e. Protects the current accounts without a true wipe, so nothing is lost for current players.

I understand the idea is complex but at the same time, the same thing over and over again gets boring and player loss is inevitable.

Thanks for listening

Tue 8 Dec 2020 1:01 PM by DJ2000

Hector wrote: ↑
Tue 8 Dec 2020 12:22 PM
1. Create a parallel server (Phoenix Seasons) where you cannot access any of the characters on your main phoenix server account. Lock the main phoenix server account for a period of up to 12 months. Force the fresh start.

As this is supposed to be an idea about introducing seasons(plural) into DaoC, as in more than 1 season, this would literally mean that any of your "Toons" get locked after every 12 months to be never seen again. Profit?

Hector wrote: ↑
Tue 8 Dec 2020 12:22 PM
2. At the conclusion of the 12 months, merge the parallel Phoenix server with the current one (like how live did it when they merged classic with Ywain), effectively allowing the "fresh start" server characters and the current Phoenix server to be played interchangeably on the current server. This accomplishes several goals:

Every new Season after 12 months would mean this will never happen. Are you even reading what you are typing?

Hector wrote: ↑
Tue 8 Dec 2020 12:22 PM
a. Allows a balance/reset of power

This is your main point in any of your suggestions about "seasons".

Hector wrote: ↑
Tue 8 Dec 2020 12:22 PM
b. Infuses new life into the server by offering players a fresh start but with the knowledge that they have 1 year until theyll be playable in the current high rank ecosystem

Prove? Why would it do that? Are you referring to the DaoC Playerbase? Other Playerbases that would "infuse" this one? Why would players of other Games want this, or even know or care about it? Wouldn't that also mean losing the current Playerbase that has no desire to any of this? You are laying this down as a "fact" without any evidence or experience.

Hector wrote: ↑
Tue 8 Dec 2020 12:22 PM
c. Gives everybody a new task/opportunity to play something different without the fear of being "behind"

"Behind" to what? There is no Gear Race here. If anything its RR acquired by investing "Time" into the Game. More Playtime = more RR. This has nothing to do with some kind of one-time opportunity. If you dont have the necessary time to invest into the Game, then you simply cant use this "opportunity" you speak of.

Hector wrote: ↑
Tue 8 Dec 2020 12:22 PM
d. Gives GMs the flexibility to make TEMPORARY settings for the "fresh start" parallel server i.e. possibly OF RAs, OF, etc. These highly desired settings could be reimplemented but simply on a temporary basis to give everybody "their fix" but knowing full well itll ultimately be merged into the current ecosystem.

This made me chuckle. You are really trying hard with these far fetched "points", arent you.
Thanks to this the Phoenix Staff can finally try and test things without any complaints, ... really. Because everyone needs "their fix", and the Devs are supposed to get us our "fix" to keep us entertained, subscribed and monetized....so why would anyone ever complain? Its temporary only!

Hector wrote: ↑
Tue 8 Dec 2020 12:22 PM
e. Protects the current accounts without a true wipe, so nothing is lost for current players.

Doing "Seasons" of 12 month again and again is literally a true wipe every time, as you are losing everything every 12 month...

Tue 8 Dec 2020 3:05 PM by ExcretusMaximus

DJ2000 wrote: ↑
Tue 8 Dec 2020 1:01 PM
...

Nice, you said everything I was thinking.

Tue 8 Dec 2020 3:12 PM by opossum12

Damn DJ2000 really doesn't like starting over.

I kind of agree with Hector, only if the new server isn't a copy paste of the exsiting one, or else there's no point.

There was 4000+ players at launch, and that is true with every server launch in daoc shard history (and other shards/MMO servers). People like having population. Population gradually goes down as the game becomes repetitive and people get bored.

Hector's point about falling behind is that a new character looking to solo, as an example, basically faces R7+ characters all day long. Many of which are R9-10-11. While it's a crutch excuse for losing because like you said in many cases RR = Time, not skill, it is still a demoralizing factor for the player that isn't necessarily talented. Facing lower rank characters does give the impression that you have a better chance.

Losing progress? People didn't hesitate one second to leave Uthgard to come play here, while the process was way more painful over there to reach 50/rank. So people are attracted to the new stuff, that's a fact. People are scared to have to leave their one character they've been hugging for the past 3 years but they will jump ship for the shiny new thing.

And he just said you don't lose anything, as the seasonal characters are dumped back into Main phoenix server.

This is a logical alternative to a full server wipe, which is probably what they were referring to after the style changes debacle, when they mentionned that they would do something when Euro reaches a predetermined treshold.

Tue 8 Dec 2020 3:38 PM by Sepplord

ExcretusMaximus wrote: ↑
Tue 8 Dec 2020 3:05 PM
DJ2000 wrote: ↑
Tue 8 Dec 2020 1:01 PM
...
Nice, you said everything I was thinking.

I seldom have that thought on this forum, but in this case i did too.

opossum12 wrote: People didn't hesitate one second to leave Uthgard to come play here, while the process was way more painful over there to reach 50/rank. So people are attracted to the new stuff, that's a fact. People are scared to have to leave their one character they've been hugging for the past 3 years but they will jump ship for the shiny new thing.

How many people were still playing on Uthgard when phoenix opened? 4k+ players on phoenix surely weren't coming from Uthgard.

And DJ2000 might not like restarting, but his main points aren't against restarts per se, but poiting out falsehoods and logical contradictions in the OP.
He isn't just ranting out his opinion like you implied with that opening

Wed 9 Dec 2020 3:02 AM by Hedien

Dividing the population by 2 is not a good idea. And this is assuming a 50/50... if not it would be worse.

Sat/Faturday.

Wed 9 Dec 2020 8:31 AM by Sepplord

Hedien wrote: ↑
Wed 9 Dec 2020 3:02 AM
Dividing the population by 2 is not a good idea. And this is assuming a 50/50... if not it would be worse.

Sat/Faturday.

OP doesn't want to split, he wants to close the mainserver and force everyone onto the new one (which is probably even worse)

Wed 9 Dec 2020 3:33 PM by Noashakra

Perfect idea to kill the most important player base on this server.
I see only a way to accelerate people leaving the game.
Most people don't want change in DAOC, that's why they stick with a 20 years old game :p

Thu 10 Dec 2020 7:27 AM by Astaa

Oh lord no, horrible idea.