Classic Tabbed Servers
 

First, to start off, let me explain that this is not an attack on any server or it's staff members, so please do not get defensive.

I have a question regarding a couple of these servers...namely: Delteria and Atlantis.

That question is: Why are these servers on the Classic tab? I realize that at one point, these servers maintained a large player count and contributed to the Graalian community, but those days are long past. Why are these servers that add nothing to the Graalian community allowed to hang around forever? I'm asking this as a paying member of the Graal community.

Having over 900 hours on Delteria, it saddens me to say that it should be taken off the Classic tab. However, in complete objectivity, it's become an idling spot for Alex-Stravier's RC. They have stolen floor tiles for their ONE city available to the public, and only offer a spar arena as any attempt to give players something to do. There is nothing to do there and knowing the Delterian staff, there won't be anything to do for the next 2 years.

As far as Atlantis goes, I can't speak much about what their server holds and contains. It's actually a very nice server, however, there is no player activity at all. Over the last year, they've broke 10 players only 10 times, and reached ten only 4 more times. Having a grand total of 10 or more players 14 times in 365 days while never breaking 20 players. I understand that this is one of the only German Servers available to players, however, I just don't see how this is adding to the community.

Like I stated previously, this isn't an attack on any server or staff group, just observations from an objective view. I feel that as a paying player, the servers that are hosted on the Classic tab should offer some sort of entertainment for those who have paid rather than something to laugh at. I think it would be much more appropriate for a server like AEON, who generates a steady player base while on the Hosted tab, to be on the classic tab rather than server who have no appeal to anyone be on them.

Discuss.

About the stolen floor tiles... they said they were going to fix it... but they never did :(

I agree that Delteria doesn't meet the standards other playerworlds have to achieve in order to be on the classic tab. This also has to do with another policy change I have in mind for my PWA application but haven't yet posted it. Each time a classic server has a major change/update they should have to get it approved by PWA just like applying for classic over again to avoid rotting servers like Delteria that only have approximately 35 levels accessible to the public. I don't see how Atlantis is adding from the community either, but I don't see how it's removing from the community. I don't think Atlantis should be removed yet, they actually have content, unlike Delteria.
I'm not sure that AEON generates a steady player count more than a steady staff count, but AEON is probably ready for classic depending on the content they have. I know I have seen their under construction content and it's quite nice.

Exactly why I said it'd be another 2 years before you see any content update with Delteria. The staff is skilled, but very unmotivated concerning the server. They can't even fix stolen floor tiles over the course of 6+ months, so I see no reason to believe that they'll fix anything else.

I love your ideas on Classic Tabbed server major change/update policies. :) I would also agree with the idea that Atlantis should be removed yet, due to it actually having content. I was just simply pointing out that it has absolutely no players. Player count aside, Atlantis is quite a nice server.

Thanks for your input on AEON. I really haven't been there a lot, however, looking at the Graal stats, it appeared to draw a decent amount of players. I made an uninformed assumption about AEON but am glad that you could point out some thing..

Bell has a (Playerworld Inspector) guild on her name and is on AEON.

Hmm.

I'm not sure approval is a great idea, it'll lead to delays and it's generally a repressive measure. Notification would be nice, so the PWA has a general knowledge of how active the worlds are in adding content.

Besides, approval doesn't tackle the real issue: that there is a lack of talent in the right locations or creativity/motivation to create new content. If we're to best serve the players, I think you'd need to allow such new content to go straight to the players.

With regard to Forgiven's comments: I agree! Not sure about Atlantis, for the same reasons as others here. But if Delteria has nothing, it should be gone. Not sure if it's been suggested, but when I was PWA informing Stefan of such things usually led to a quick removal if there were no signs of imminent life.

Just a general Graal comment: I wish they'd put 3D on hold and make a really good official playerworld for classic. I know it goes against the whole Gold subscription numbers, but that's a separate issue. We need good cheap content (and I know Gold is cheap in comparison to pay monthly MMORPGs) but the customers obviously don't fully agree - or at least need to be convinced.

Perhaps the approval of at least one PWA then.

Simple. When any big change is done to an already classic server, you must notify the PWA. You can upload it whenever you want, but the PWA must be notified beforehand.
Then they can come out and inspect it... if it's crap, then too bad. Either upload a prior backup before the big update or you get slapped on either hosted or UC.

I do think there should be some sort of notification of an existing Classic tabbed server when a huge overhaul or update is completed. Especially if the content that they we're approved for is being replaced with something else.

Because, essentially without a PWA inspecting the new server, they're essentially just buying a new server and having it sent straight to the Classic tab, which is more than unfair to those who have been working for quite some time and aren't on the Classic OR Hosted tab. (Of course, it's only unfair if the content that's uploaded is less than that of those other servers).

However, in cases such as Delteria's, there needs to be inspections by the PWA to ensure that the server still deserves to be on the Classic tab.

I think notifications, yes, but major changes need to get approval.

e.g. Era going classic.

Major changes I guess would be ok, not not every update.

If they created a really good classic world which stole the playercount for some time, I think it'd motivate other playerworlds to create new and interesting content.

In other news, a random blizzard outside just started!!

That or it would make them all cry and moan.

I like that one :)

Yeah, AEON has a pretty cool job system and pretty good playercount

The three servers with the lowest playercount are Atlantis, Delteria and Classic. Classic isn't as bad as the other two yet, but at least it's something.

Playercount for the past year on Delteria:

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...h_delteria.png

Playercount for the year on Atlantis:

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...h_atlantis.png

I think it's safe to assume that both Atlantis and Delteria are dead, lol. It would probably be in the best interest of Graal to remove the servers from the "classic" section of the playerlist and place them under development status to make the place appear less empty and barren. Sadly most servers do not return from development status, but when or if they do they seem to receive better reception. I think it'd either make or break the servers in question if they were moved, and maybe that kind of kick up the ass is what they need.

(All graphs and statistics were provided by graal.us)

I agree that atlantis has to be either removed or needs a new management.

The reasons:
- Lack of german players, while the server is 100% german
- Zwr is inactive, and a dutch person who speaks no german at all is a curious person for the management of atlantis anyways.

=> either give it a new management or take it offline.
Afaik when it hit 10 players in the list, it most of the time only were staff members.

The only reason Delteria has a peak of 50 or so players is because of that big port release thing... otherwise its chart would look just like Atlantis'.

It's a pity all that went to waste on Delteria... it had so much potential. But I guess removing a whole overworld and replacing it with a 10 level town, at most, with no content or things to do other than sparring, was a bad idea.

You got that right.

We are working on Atlantis now and will present the preview of a updated, bilingual playerworld, so that english and german will be fully supported.