Why do I get this strange feeling a free to play announcement up to x level is incoming?

+1 for creative spin

Originally posted by SBFord

I don't think that F2P is imminent. Rift has a healthy server population and a good subscriber base. That's very good news for Trion. (Ed note: took out a number since that was pure speculation on my part. I don't have any idea the number of subscribers Rift has but my server is always packed!)

Given that the game is coming up on its first anniversary, it's pretty much a given that Trion will be making a big promotional push. Having the servers ready to roll is smart.

I mean copying that free up to lvl 20 thing WoW does.

they're being smart. is not server-merging and its not ignoring the problem.

good for them. if only blizzard would do the same...

I think a F2P in some form is incoming.  It's hard to overlook multiple games increasing players by doing it.  Whether or not they are temporary or permanent players, it looks good for PR to say your numbers are going up, not down.  It's the in flavor of MMO development.

Originally posted by Puremallace

Originally posted by SBFord

I don't think that F2P is imminent. Rift has a healthy server population and a good subscriber base (my own edit). That's very good news for Trion.

Given that the game is coming up on its first anniversary, it's pretty much a given that Trion will be making a big promotional push. Having the servers ready to roll is smart.

I mean copying that free up to lvl 20 thing WoW does.

I think Rift was offering that free trial to level 15 before WoW, since the only reason why I got into Rift was because of their initial free trials back in May.

I'm confused what happened to the other 50+ trial servers? they had 99 at launch and are now down to 47 and those other servers were supposed to be trial servers as well as these new 11 ones. I'm getting the feeling trial means something else in the world of Trion. I'd like Trion to "clarify" that if they can.

Uhohhhh.

Originally posted by Calerxes

I'm confused what happened to the other 50+ trial servers? they had 99 at launch and are now down to 47 and those other servers were supposed to be trial servers as well as these new 11 ones. I'm getting the feeling trial means something else in the world of Trion. I'd like Trion to "clarify" that if they can.

Basically  "Trial servers" is Trion's PR way to handle server mergers, which is kind of ingenius. Means that Trion doesn't have to go through the stigma of having to announce server merges.

This whole trial server PR spin is starting to get annoying.

"Bottom line is that we’re not merging any servers" -bottom line is your game is down from almost 1mio to about 150-200k within like 4 month.

Bottom line is that "we're not in Azeroth anymore" is now "there's not anyone in Telara anymore".

I still like the game, but Trion is getting on my nerves with their false pretends.

Originally posted by Master10K

Basically  "Trial servers" is Trion's PR way to handle server mergers, which is kind of ingenius. Means that Trion doesn't have to go through the stigma of having to announce server merges.

Here is Trions logic I think and why you can't call it mergers:

Mergers to mean = free transfers to shards with higher pops

What happens when the transfers have been free for months? Like their suggestion message is to goto Milrush I think, but alot of people said screw that and came to Deepwood.

'Bottom line is that we’re not merging any servers. The 11 shards in question are being turned into trial servers for a future large-scale trial promotion.'

They already have 33 trial shards for NA.  So they are planning something that needs 44 trial shards.

Yes, I completely believe Trion.  100% truth.

Seriously, are there people that actually believe the "trial server" garbage that Trion tries to sell them?  

Originally posted by Master10K

Originally posted by Calerxes

I'm confused what happened to the other 50+ trial servers? they had 99 at launch and are now down to 47 and those other servers were supposed to be trial servers as well as these new 11 ones. I'm getting the feeling trial means something else in the world of Trion. I'd like Trion to "clarify" that if they can.

Basically  "Trial servers" is Trion's PR way to handle server mergers, which is kind of ingenius. Means that Trion doesn't have to go through the stigma of having to announce server merges.

I understand that perfectly my post was being disingenuous. But I do love Trion, do they have a school for PR spin because they really should, might help fund Defiance.

Originally posted by VoIgore

This whole trial server PR spin is starting to get annoying.

"Bottom line is that we’re not merging any servers" -bottom line is your game is down from almost 1mio to about 150-200k within like 4 month.

Bottom line is that "we're not in Azeroth anymore" is now "there's not anyone in Telara anymore".

 

I still like the game, but Trion is getting on my nerves with their false pretends.

 

I think its amazing that while Trion has never published sub/pop numbers everyone seems to have the ability to quote sub/pop losses in the hundreds of thousands.

Originally posted by teakbois

'Bottom line is that we’re not merging any servers. The 11 shards in question are being turned into trial servers for a future large-scale trial promotion.'

They already have 33 trial shards for NA.  So they are planning something that needs 44 trial shards.

Yes, I completely believe Trion.  100% truth.

Bottom line is the game with 200k subs puts out content faster then th game with 10million subs. {mod edit}

Trion can not control the mmo community being retarded and choosing games with less features or more cash shops then content updates. I assume they do what I do an browse the forums of WoW and TOR and just laugh their ass's off.

Originally posted by Puremallace

Originally posted by teakbois

'Bottom line is that we’re not merging any servers. The 11 shards in question are being turned into trial servers for a future large-scale trial promotion.'

 

They already have 33 trial shards for NA.  So they are planning something that needs 44 trial shards.

 

Yes, I completely believe Trion.  100% truth.

Bottom line is the game with 200k subs puts out content faster then th game with 10million subs. {mod edit}

 

{mod edit}

Really though, Trion is being extremely dshonest here and treatng people like they are idiots and your defense is 'WoW doesnt put out a lot of content'.

Originally posted by teakbois

Originally posted by Puremallace

Originally posted by teakbois

'Bottom line is that we’re not merging any servers. The 11 shards in question are being turned into trial servers for a future large-scale trial promotion.'

 

They already have 33 trial shards for NA.  So they are planning something that needs 44 trial shards.

 

Yes, I completely believe Trion.  100% truth.

Bottom line is the game with 200k subs puts out content faster then th game with 10million subs. UJELLY?

 

{mod edit}

 

 

Really though, Trion is being extremely dshonest here and treatng people like they are idiots and your defense is 'WoW doesnt put out a lot of content'.

 

 It's not dishonest it's a PR spin. Dishonesty is removing a feature that was in a game and renaming a medium setting to high and not telling your paying customers. You know what I'm talking about.....

Originally posted by Lafinatu

 It's not dishonest it's a PR spin. Dishonesty is removing a feature that was in a game and renaming a medium setting to high and not telling your paying customers. You know what I'm talking about.....

 

It is indeed dishonest.

They are saying they need these 11 servers for a trial promotion.  If they run a trial promotion with 44 NA servers I will eat my words, but they have 33 perfectly good trial servers so its pretty ludicrous to assume they need more.

Here is a way to spin it while being honest:

In order to create a better experience for players we are aanicng the population across the servers.

Doesnt use words 'merge' or 'close', but still contains truth.

Originally posted by Robokapp

they're being smart. is not server-merging and its not ignoring the problem.

 

good for them. if only blizzard would do the same...

If you look at WoWs server list almost half of the servers are on Low in both EU and NA.

They have players crying for merges yet they wont do it because that would show everyone that WoW truly is bleeding subs more than they let on.

This sums up this thread

Originally posted by Puremallace

This sums up this thread

And once again the irony in your posts Pure is pure delight for onlookers. There is only one person panicking in this thread but I think being backed up by a Mod feels go doesn't it? We have a legitimate question.. "what sort of promotion requires 44 trial servers" get back to us when you have that answer, I bet my dark beard will be long and grey by that time.

I hope they get a player base of 200k subs, because it impressed me what they did in 2011.

Originally posted by Master10K

Originally posted by Calerxes

I'm confused what happened to the other 50+ trial servers? they had 99 at launch and are now down to 47 and those other servers were supposed to be trial servers as well as these new 11 ones. I'm getting the feeling trial means something else in the world of Trion. I'd like Trion to "clarify" that if they can.

Basically  "Trial servers" is Trion's PR way to handle server mergers, which is kind of ingenius. Means that Trion doesn't have to go through the stigma of having to announce server merges.

 

Yeah, I am getting this impression as well.

Let's see, Trion was lowering the prices on the boxed edition of Rift less than 3 months after going live (never a good sign) and then was dumping them at fire sale prices ($5) by 6 months. Virtually every blogger and Let's Player on YouTube quit the game not long after reaching level cap from boredom (along with probably most players). The game itself, while polished, was pretty standard fare with a few twists; lore was "borrowed" from several games (certainly saves on dev costs when you can just copy, paste, and do a minor rewrite on lore and art designs), now they are pulling this BS stunt of pretending their server mergers aren't mergers. Yeah, right.

If your servers are healthy and busy you don't force the players on them to move elsewhere. If your servers are healthy and busy you don't overwhelm them by adding even more players onto said servers. It is really sad, and embarassing to be honest, when a company is so lame they can't even be honest about this kind of thing. Even sadder that the mods here are afraid of losing ad revenue and go along with it.

More importantly, this pretty much shows what Trion thinks of their players (the few that are left?) and MMORPG players in general. I certainly won't be buying anything by this company after this kind of PR stunt and will advise all my friends stay far away from them too. I used to be fairly generous in regards to Rift, even if the game itself wasn't exactly stellar in any way: same old combat system, generic two-sided faction world, nice world graphics but so-so character design and clunky animations. Now I just feel pity for them sinking so low. At least we have a new phrase the next time some company tries to cover up their server mergers with PR BS: they're "pulling a Trion"

Originally posted by Beka

Let's see, Trion was lowering the prices on the boxed edition of Rift less than 3 months after going live (never a good sign) and then was dumping them at fire sale prices ($5) by 6 months. Virtually every blogger and Let's Player on YouTube quit the game not long after reaching level cap from boredom (along with probably most players). The game itself, while polished, was pretty standard fare with a few twists; lore was "borrowed" from several games (certainly saves on dev costs when you can just copy, paste, and do a minor rewrite on lore and art designs), now they are pulling this BS stunt of pretending their server mergers aren't mergers. Yeah, right.

If your servers are healthy and busy you don't force the players on them to move elsewhere. If your servers are healthy and busy you don't overwhelm them by adding even more players onto said servers. It is really sad, and embarassing to be honest, when a company is so lame they can't even be honest about this kind of thing. Even sadder that the mods here are afraid of losing ad revenue and go along with it.

More importantly, this pretty much shows what Trion thinks of their players (the few that are left?) and MMORPG players in general. I certainly won't be buying anything by this company after this kind of PR stunt and will advise all my friends stay far away from them too. I used to be fairly generous in regards to Rift, even if the game itself wasn't exactly stellar in any way: same old combat system, generic two-sided faction world, nice world graphics but so-so character design and clunky animations. Now I just feel pity for them sinking so low. At least we have a new phrase the next time some company tries to cover up their server mergers with PR BS: they're "pulling a Trion"

Pretty much every MMO company is like this. I could care less honestly, I like Rift and will continue playing for a long time since they are good developers and keep pushing content continuously. But personally I don't really trust ANY MMO company, since most of them will do ANYTHING to keep subs up and save face for whatever reason.

So with that, its basically all about choosing your poison.

Originally posted by Beka

Let's see, Trion was lowering the prices on the boxed edition of Rift less than 3 months after going live (never a good sign) and then was dumping them at fire sale prices ($5) by 6 months. Virtually every blogger and Let's Player on YouTube quit the game not long after reaching level cap from boredom (along with probably most players). The game itself, while polished, was pretty standard fare with a few twists; lore was "borrowed" from several games (certainly saves on dev costs when you can just copy, paste, and do a minor rewrite on lore and art designs), now they are pulling this BS stunt of pretending their server mergers aren't mergers. Yeah, right.

If your servers are healthy and busy you don't force the players on them to move elsewhere. If your servers are healthy and busy you don't overwhelm them by adding even more players onto said servers. It is really sad, and embarassing to be honest, when a company is so lame they can't even be honest about this kind of thing. Even sadder that the mods here are afraid of losing ad revenue and go along with it.

More importantly, this pretty much shows what Trion thinks of their players (the few that are left?) and MMORPG players in general. I certainly won't be buying anything by this company after this kind of PR stunt and will advise all my friends stay far away from them too. I used to be fairly generous in regards to Rift, even if the game itself wasn't exactly stellar in any way: same old combat system, generic two-sided faction world, nice world graphics but so-so character design and clunky animations. Now I just feel pity for them sinking so low. At least we have a new phrase the next time some company tries to cover up their server mergers with PR BS: they're "pulling a Trion"

That orange bit made me chuckle, nice one, I agree with your post Beka.

Originally posted by teakbois

Originally posted by Puremallace

Originally posted by teakbois

'Bottom line is that we’re not merging any servers. The 11 shards in question are being turned into trial servers for a future large-scale trial promotion.'

 

They already have 33 trial shards for NA.  So they are planning something that needs 44 trial shards.

 

Yes, I completely believe Trion.  100% truth.

Bottom line is the game with 200k subs puts out content faster then th game with 10million subs. {mod edit}

 

{mod edit}

 

 

Really though, Trion is being extremely dshonest here and treatng people like they are idiots and your defense is 'WoW doesnt put out a lot of content'.

this

 

 

Hey lets see I can do this too:

WoW:

1. The went free to play up to level 20..uhohhh

2. They lost 1.7 million players in 2011

3. Prices slashed across the board

4. Diablo 3 bundeled into a WoW 12 month sub

Eve:

1. CCP does monaclegate and probably half the population jets. They are still trying to recover. Do not throw that 300k number around anymore after that crap.

2. Shut down the guy who was publishing live server stats and exact numbers

Rift:

1. Reduced box price and offered trial asap

2. After they up'd what a server could handle offered free transfers and the population consolidated.

3. Took hits after the first 30 days after the WoW fans left(TOR fans does this sound familiar)

TOR:

1. Not as widely accepted as most fan claimed

2. Pvp is getting hammered due to multiple basic issues that were overlooked. These guys one month later are just now starting to argue class balance after they argued for a month over basic crap.

3. End game is WoW. If you got into this expecting different then you need help or more mmo experience when someone says themepark what that really means.

I will not write Rift off because they are the first game since WoW to have more then 4 servers after the first year and not be f2p. You guys seem to think it is easy to compete against a game that has a 7year head start. Want me to link any of the post from the TOR forums from WoW fans looking for 7 years worth of content on release date?

checkin server status right now.

1 server full with a queue of 202. 2 servers high pop. 10 medium pop. 14 are low pop. 11 of the 14 are the servers being moved to trial status, so that leaves 3 that are low pop. so 16 servers right now after the trail shard change up.

Originally posted by Puremallace

Hey lets see I can do this too:

WoW:

1. The went free to play up to level 20..uhohhh

2. They lost 1.7 million players in 2011

3. Prices slashed across the board

4. Diablo 3 bundeled into a WoW 12 month sub

 

Eve:

1. CCP does monaclegate and probably half the population jets. They are still trying to recover. Do not throw that 300k number around anymore after that crap.

2. Shut down the guy who was publishing live server stats and exact numbers

 

Rift:

1. Reduced box price and offered trial asap

2. After they up'd what a server could handle offered free transfers and the population consolidated.

3. Took hits after the first 30 days after the WoW fans left(TOR fans does this sound familiar)

 

TOR:

1. Not as widely accepted as most fan claimed

2. Pvp is getting hammered due to multiple basic issues that were overlooked. These guys one month later are just now starting to argue class balance after they argued for a month over basic crap.

3. End game is WoW. If you got into this expecting different then you need help or more mmo experience when someone says themepark what that really means.

 

I will not write Rift off because they are the first game since WoW to have more then 4 servers after the first year and not be f2p. You guys seem to think it is easy to compete against a game that has a 7year head start. Want me to link any of the post from the TOR forums from WoW fans looking for 7 years worth of content on release date?

 

 

What does any of this have to do with Trion's dishonesty?

Oh and a history lesson:  LOTRO had more than 4 servers a year after launch, and it didnt go f2p for years after that.

Originally posted by Puremallace

Eve:

1. CCP does monaclegate and probably half the population jets. They are still trying to recover. Do not throw that 300k number around anymore after that crap.

2. Shut down the guy who was publishing live server stats and exact numbers

You should sign up to CCP's newsletters. They're throwing around 350k now.

Well, they are good at spin. If they are converting some existing servers into Trial Servers and asking existing players on those servers to transfer elsewhere, it's still basically server merging, but with the onus put on players to actually move their characters, rather than the process being automated and with out choice.

I don't see the point otherwise. With most existing players at the cap, there should be plenty of room in the lower level zones of existing servers to accomodate trial customers. This also tells us that the non-converting servers are expected to have plenty of room for an influx of high level toons from the effected servers, which tells you that even in the most populated level ranges, they are still far short of capacity.

Sort of a shame, since influxes of new players through trials and promotions usually offer existing players a great opportunity to make some additional alts with the expectation of more lower level characters to play with.

They should have just admited the merges, rather than trying to spin it. Spin makes you wonder what else they might be hiding.

Originally posted by nyxxis

Originally posted by VoIgore

This whole trial server PR spin is starting to get annoying.

"Bottom line is that we’re not merging any servers" -bottom line is your game is down from almost 1mio to about 150-200k within like 4 month.

Bottom line is that "we're not in Azeroth anymore" is now "there's not anyone in Telara anymore".

 

I still like the game, but Trion is getting on my nerves with their false pretends.

 

I think its amazing that while Trion has never published sub/pop numbers everyone seems to have the ability to quote sub/pop losses in the hundreds of thousands.

 

Hahah soo true. Everyone knows their stuff to the letter , that why i am so amused by this forums.

I play Rift, I like the game, and I like the content updates, they always do a good job for the most part (bugs aside).

That being said, the way the community team is managing the situation is shameless.  They is virtually ZERO interation with their customers on this, it was sprung upon us with no post, and if you question it, or point out issues, they lock the threads down, or give infractions, or delete them outright.  And we''re talking just regular posts, not ragequit posts, not troll posts.

The damage their community team is causing, to me, seems far worse than these actual merges (call them what you will, but they're merges).  

Hartsman should have been right out there initially with a Producer's letter, prior to this, explaining the new year goals, and this could have been included.

Yes, I smell f2p too.  I have no intention of quitting at this time, but the community team's actions are definitely pushing me out the door.  F2P would seal it.

Your are dillusional if you dont think TRion is preparing for a large influx of players.  And what player base might that be?  Hmm let me think.  What have MMO companies done in the past that caused a large spike in their player base relative to their current subs?  So great in fact that they would need to dedicate 11 servers for it?

HmmI gee let me think I just cant figure it out, Im sooooo puzzled...........

Lets review.

Trion is practically giving their game away now, what you can get it for like 4 bucks with promotions?

Trion has lowered their monthly sub rate

Yes my friends Rift is going the hybrid model of LOTRO deal with it.......

Originally posted by Cthulhu23

Seriously, are there people that actually believe the "trial server" garbage that Trion tries to sell them?  

dont get to arrogant because your beloved SWTOR is going to follow in  RIFTS footsteps.

Most mmo companys add a few servers for promotional trial periods, not lock servers out and force players to merge to another one. If you read between the lines it stands to reason that they are getting ready for a f2p model soon or using the "trial server" excuse to merge people without letting on that they need to. Either way Rift is a fun game. I play now and then. It offers a different flavor to the WoW style gameplay. 

I wonder how many servers will be left after GW2 release...

Originally posted by Robokapp

they're being smart. is not server-merging and its not ignoring the problem.

 

good for them. if only blizzard would do the same...

 

 This! People should take a good look at WoW's Realm list during primetime and see the vast majority of servers being Low populated!

Blizzard is really desperate to try keep up the appearance and just plain ignoring the inevitable! Which is only harming their paying playerbase, as a lot of people are stuck on low pop servers, unless they fork out a lot of cash to tranfer their toons to a high pop server... which has a high chance to become low pop too.

Originally posted by VoIgore

This whole trial server PR spin is starting to get annoying.

"Bottom line is that we’re not merging any servers" -bottom line is your game is down from almost 1mio to about 150-200k within like 4 month.

Bottom line is that "we're not in Azeroth anymore" is now "there's not anyone in Telara anymore".

 

I still like the game, but Trion is getting on my nerves with their false pretends.

 

Link to your number source please, thanks.

to be fair (and im no bashing rift) my server was dead >< , i changed the pass and got 3 free days , log in , and the city was empty , /who 1-50 ........not even 20 ><

transfered 1 char to another server , boom , lots of ppl around

but thats mostly faction based ....

Peoples, look from a business point of view, what do you expect them to do?

Announcing "Oh SWTOR is way too popular and we are heavily losing subscribers? We will close down 50% of our servers and we definitely don't have confidence anymore."

They are a business, they need to do something about the bad situation ahead, and thats the choice they make. Does it matter if they are really losing subscribers or not? Unless everyone here plays rift, I don't see why people are fussing over. They need to maintain a business, and being subscription based allows almost no competition.

And thats why subscription method isn't a healthy situation for the MMO genre, it forces players to make a choice into which game to play, and face it, only hardcore players can maintain 2 or more subscription, which is like 8-10% of the market.

I don't think Rift will go free to play anytime soon, but Buy to play might be imminent, current market just doesn't allow too many AAA P2P games to survive with the casual playerbase growing and growing.

Oh and this also shows one thing, server maintance is dirt cheap now, if they are really losing subscribers as a lot here says, maintaining so many servers will thus cost them a lot of money, but from the trial servers shown, server cost is at least covered by box cost.

I don't think trion is being dishonest about anything. If there were server mergers they wouldn't be able to spin it any way. What I don't understand about this community is that mostly everyone LOVES, simply LOVES to bash games without actually knowing the whole scoop. My favorite comments are "F2P by x" but I don't see that as much of a problem. F2P is not the death of a game it's a switch in business model, and believe me people love F2P. So, If trion did decide to go F2P by X their revenue would shoot up because as it stands there is literally nothing to play on the market. And let me now say that what is on the market is going to go F2P by X because that is where the future of MMORPGS appears to be going. People rather download the game and see if it is worth their time and when they get hooked they end up blowing cash on virtual items, it's inevitable.

I'm sure someone is going to debate this with me but in my opinion RIFT is a great game, and trion is a great dev company and they are constantly proving it by releasing these new patches. They don't just add dungeons with rehashed boss models, they also add whole new lands for free. They don't just slap some title nex to RIFT, call it an expansion and make you shell out cash like certain devs do because they have already established a player base and are milking them for all they are worth. Trion stands by their product and are trying their best to give their players what they ask for. The only problem I do see is that trion is having to deal with a community that is so critical, judgemental and negative without any real reasoning behind that it that I almost feel that with every offical statement trion makes they should link an achieve before they proceed.

Originally posted by xKingdomx

Peoples, look from a business point of view, what do you expect them to do?

Announcing "Oh SWTOR is way too popular and we are heavily losing subscribers? We will close down 50% of our servers and we definitely don't have confidence anymore."

How about treating customers honestly.  Just say that they are consolidating servers to maintain the high quality multiplayer experience for everyone.

This is a dumb move by Trion that isn't fooling anyone.

Originally posted by FrodoFragins

Originally posted by xKingdomx

Peoples, look from a business point of view, what do you expect them to do?

Announcing "Oh SWTOR is way too popular and we are heavily losing subscribers? We will close down 50% of our servers and we definitely don't have confidence anymore."

How about treating customers honestly.  Just say that they are consolidating servers to maintain the high quality multiplayer experience for everyone.

 

This is a dumb move by Trion that isn't fooling anyone.

Another point of view, if everyone understand why they are doing this trial server, they are hinting to everyone that they are doing server merge. But from a business angle, they can't admit that they are losing money, especially for a company that has move onto the share market, or they will mean huge consequences for their shares, possibly the downfall of the company considering Rift is their only game out right now.

If Blizzard lost subscribers, they can't say we have lost *insert number* amount of players, but focus attention that they are still going very strong.

They is how business goes, they can't openly admit losses because investers will take heavier note on that. But instead they need to focus on positives. And as how a lot of people have said, thats the PR machine.

Originally posted by xKingdomx

Originally posted by FrodoFragins

Originally posted by xKingdomx

Peoples, look from a business point of view, what do you expect them to do?

Announcing "Oh SWTOR is way too popular and we are heavily losing subscribers? We will close down 50% of our servers and we definitely don't have confidence anymore."

How about treating customers honestly.  Just say that they are consolidating servers to maintain the high quality multiplayer experience for everyone.

 

This is a dumb move by Trion that isn't fooling anyone.

Another point of view, if everyone understand why they are doing this trial server, they are hinting to everyone that they are doing server merge. But from a business angle, they can't admit that they are losing money, especially for a company that has move onto the share market, or they will mean huge consequences for their shares, possibly the downfall of the company considering Rift is their only game out right now.

 

If Blizzard lost subscribers, they can't say we have lost *insert number* amount of players, but focus attention that they are still going very strong.

They is how business goes, they can't openly admit losses because investers will take heavier note on that. But instead they need to focus on positives. And as how a lot of people have said, thats the PR machine.

Blizzard has to report those numbers, which is how we know they lost something like 1.7 million subscribers in a year.  They avoid server merges by offering cross server group finding.

Investors know exactly how much revenue has gone down.  Trion can't hide those numbers from them.  Players on small servers also know when the population has taken a nosedive.

Trion has been building a solid reputation.  This marketing gimmick is a move in teh wrong direction.

Originally posted by JDexter

I play Rift, I like the game, and I like the content updates, they always do a good job for the most part (bugs aside).

 

That being said, the way the community team is managing the situation is shameless.  They is virtually ZERO interation with their customers on this, it was sprung upon us with no post, and if you question it, or point out issues, they lock the threads down, or give infractions, or delete them outright.  And we''re talking just regular posts, not ragequit posts, not troll posts.

The damage their community team is causing, to me, seems far worse than these actual merges (call them what you will, but they're merges).  

Hartsman should have been right out there initially with a Producer's letter, prior to this, explaining the new year goals, and this could have been included.

Yes, I smell f2p too.  I have no intention of quitting at this time, but the community team's actions are definitely pushing me out the door.  F2P would seal it.

 

We'll ignore the huge server message that they put up a week ahead of time. 

We'll also ignore the posts that they made in each of the forums for the servers that are effected.

We'll ignore the multiple threads, that were made the day the server message and forum messages were posted, in the general discussion forums; many of which were the same exact thing you wrote.  Which is interesting seeing as they're COMPLAINING A WEEK BEFORE THE REQUESTED TRANSFER DATE.

If we just ignore all that, then yes, they never told anyone, and they're closing or licking threads made about the issue.

If we just ignore all the truths and common sense, then everything you said would actually be sensible.

We'll even ignore the fact that if you aren't following the game, and happen to return after the 18th, that your characters will be sitting on the server they recomended.

We can even ignore the fact that if you're in a guild, on one of the effected servers, and the guild leader transfers, you get a message that pops up in guild chat and in the middle of the screen telling you what server the guild leader moved to.  We'll ignore that everyone in poorly run guilds, with guild leaders who don't discuss things with their members, have no trouble at all following thier guild.

I'll even go a little further and ignore the fact that they aren't restricting transfers to one per account, and that I moved all my characters off one server to another the same night. 

I'll just ignore how easy it was to transfer.

Becuase if we can ignore all the facts, truths, logic, and common sense, we can start to pretend that Trion is behaiving like a bunch of douches, giving us a weeks notice about the transfers via the forums and server message.

How dare they make me change my name, and then delete my thread because there are already a half dozen threads exactly like the one I made, and give me an infaction because I kept on making post after post about the topic after they locked 3 other duplicate threads I made!  How dare they!!!

It strikes me reading this thread that the Trion hate stems from them cockblocking the haters "server mergers! game failing!" threads that would inevitable litter the internet at the first opportunity.

There is so much angst by people that they can't get their little knife in its laughable. I almost feel people have them typed up and are ready to hit submit only to be repeatedly denied by the trial servers argument.

I mean, really. You're never going to buy another Trion product becasue of this "dishonesty". And when they go free to play and make use of the servers are you going to come back here and tell us how you got it wrong?

Originally posted by Uhwop

Originally posted by JDexter

I play Rift, I like the game, and I like the content updates, they always do a good job for the most part (bugs aside).

 

That being said, the way the community team is managing the situation is shameless.  They is virtually ZERO interation with their customers on this, it was sprung upon us with no post, and if you question it, or point out issues, they lock the threads down, or give infractions, or delete them outright.  And we''re talking just regular posts, not ragequit posts, not troll posts.

The damage their community team is causing, to me, seems far worse than these actual merges (call them what you will, but they're merges).  

Hartsman should have been right out there initially with a Producer's letter, prior to this, explaining the new year goals, and this could have been included.

Yes, I smell f2p too.  I have no intention of quitting at this time, but the community team's actions are definitely pushing me out the door.  F2P would seal it.

 

We'll ignore the huge server message that they put up a week ahead of time. 

We'll also ignore the posts that they made in each of the forums for the servers that are effected.

We'll ignore the multiple threads, that were made the day the server message and forum messages were posted, in the general discussion forums; many of which were the same exact thing you wrote.  Which is interesting seeing as they're COMPLAINING A WEEK BEFORE THE REQUESTED TRANSFER DATE.

If we just ignore all that, then yes, they never told anyone, and they're closing or licking threads made about the issue.

If we just ignore all the truths and common sense, then everything you said would actually be sensible.

We'll even ignore the fact that if you aren't following the game, and happen to return after the 18th, that your characters will be sitting on the server they recomended.

We can even ignore the fact that if you're in a guild, on one of the effected servers, and the guild leader transfers, you get a message that pops up in guild chat and in the middle of the screen telling you what server the guild leader moved to.  We'll ignore that everyone in poorly run guilds, with guild leaders who don't discuss things with their members, have no trouble at all following thier guild.

I'll even go a little further and ignore the fact that they aren't restricting transfers to one per account, and that I moved all my characters off one server to another the same night. 

I'll just ignore how easy it was to transfer.

 

Becuase if we can ignore all the facts, truths, logic, and common sense, we can start to pretend that Trion is behaiving like a bunch of douches, giving us a weeks notice about the transfers via the forums and server message.

How dare they make me change my name, and then delete my thread because there are already a half dozen threads exactly like the one I made, and give me an infaction because I kept on making post after post about the topic after they locked 3 other duplicate threads I made!  How dare they!!!

 

 

Originally posted by Master10K

Originally posted by Puremallace

Originally posted by SBFord

I don't think that F2P is imminent. Rift has a healthy server population and a good subscriber base (my own edit). That's very good news for Trion.

Given that the game is coming up on its first anniversary, it's pretty much a given that Trion will be making a big promotional push. Having the servers ready to roll is smart.

I mean copying that free up to lvl 20 thing WoW does.

I think Rift was offering that free trial to level 15 before WoW, since the only reason why I got into Rift was because of their initial free trials back in May.

 

^

This

Well I was going to buy the years sub it sounded like a reallly good deal .

The thing is even though I'm a big fan of Rift I seriously think it may be a cash grab before free to play gets introduced . As it stands I think I'm going to stick to the months sub as theres a few mmos that should be released this year that I have interest in .

I personally give it a 50-50 chance  of going free to play in a year . I love the game but I don't like those odds at all .

Originally posted by JDexter

Originally posted by Uhwop

Originally posted by JDexter

I play Rift, I like the game, and I like the content updates, they always do a good job for the most part (bugs aside).

 

That being said, the way the community team is managing the situation is shameless.  They is virtually ZERO interation with their customers on this, it was sprung upon us with no post, and if you question it, or point out issues, they lock the threads down, or give infractions, or delete them outright.  And we''re talking just regular posts, not ragequit posts, not troll posts.

The damage their community team is causing, to me, seems far worse than these actual merges (call them what you will, but they're merges).  

Hartsman should have been right out there initially with a Producer's letter, prior to this, explaining the new year goals, and this could have been included.

Yes, I smell f2p too.  I have no intention of quitting at this time, but the community team's actions are definitely pushing me out the door.  F2P would seal it.

 

We'll ignore the huge server message that they put up a week ahead of time. 

We'll also ignore the posts that they made in each of the forums for the servers that are effected.

We'll ignore the multiple threads, that were made the day the server message and forum messages were posted, in the general discussion forums; many of which were the same exact thing you wrote.  Which is interesting seeing as they're COMPLAINING A WEEK BEFORE THE REQUESTED TRANSFER DATE.

If we just ignore all that, then yes, they never told anyone, and they're closing or licking threads made about the issue.

If we just ignore all the truths and common sense, then everything you said would actually be sensible.

We'll even ignore the fact that if you aren't following the game, and happen to return after the 18th, that your characters will be sitting on the server they recomended.

We can even ignore the fact that if you're in a guild, on one of the effected servers, and the guild leader transfers, you get a message that pops up in guild chat and in the middle of the screen telling you what server the guild leader moved to.  We'll ignore that everyone in poorly run guilds, with guild leaders who don't discuss things with their members, have no trouble at all following thier guild.

I'll even go a little further and ignore the fact that they aren't restricting transfers to one per account, and that I moved all my characters off one server to another the same night. 

I'll just ignore how easy it was to transfer.

 

Becuase if we can ignore all the facts, truths, logic, and common sense, we can start to pretend that Trion is behaiving like a bunch of douches, giving us a weeks notice about the transfers via the forums and server message.

How dare they make me change my name, and then delete my thread because there are already a half dozen threads exactly like the one I made, and give me an infaction because I kept on making post after post about the topic after they locked 3 other duplicate threads I made!  How dare they!!!

 

 

 

We'll ignore that the server message was not huge, but a single line upon log in.

You're doing it again.  Nowhere in my post did I say anything about a "huge" server message.  It was the MoTD.
 

We'll ignore the fact that the messages on the server forums were posted the day AFTER a crapstorm hit the forums, and it wasn't a discussion, it was a statement, and any valid questions by people affected were summarily ignored (ie, all char names are taken, not enough slots on destination, etc).

 

How far in advance is that from the 18th?  So the developers can't leave sticky messages on the forums that are announcements that aren't up for discussion. 
 

We'll ignore the fact that you don't know what you are talking about, that if you return to the game after the 18th, your character will be sitting on the trial shard, not the recommended shard, no move happens without you initiating it.

Are you telling me you don't have to move?  Are you telling me that if you wish to you could just stay on the server you're already on?  Are you saying that you don't have to worry about your name, or not enough space on a single server because you can stay on the server you're currently on? 
 

So how about cutting the fanboi crap, or should we just ignore that too.

 

How about not overeacting?

 

Sorry I hurt your feelings, but maybe you should do a little research before you spout off ignorant fanboism, huh?

 

Originally posted by Reion1

I don't think trion is being dishonest about anything. 

So you think that Trion intends to announce a promotion so amazing it will attract almost 3 times as many people currently playing the game?  Because that is what Trion said they are doing.  They now have 16 NA servers and 42 NA trial servers.   

Your words Uhwop:

What you're saying:
You're doing it again.  Nowhere in my post did I say anything about a "huge" server message.  It was the MoTD.

And what you posted before:
We'll ignore the huge server message that they put up a week ahead of time. 

Can't even quote yourself and get it right, sheesh.  

Anyone who has been paying attention should have expected this.  With free transfers to other servers, many shards ended up as ghost towns. I know I transfered my two 50s (warrior and rogue) to one of the high population shards. I'm just surprised that its taken them this long. But thats likely because of the hysterical reaction many of the Haters would have.  Lets be real. 250 to 300K players is not small potatoes. Even 150 to 200K is still pretty damn healthy, especially for a first game.  I've been playing The Old Republic for the last month or so, but if they have some interesting content, I may go back to Rift for awhile. 

Originally posted by sudo

I wonder how many servers will be left after GW2 release...

 

Pretty much think the age of MMOs is over. I throughly enjoy Co-op now more than I do my MMOs. There's just something to be said about sitting down with friends and blugeoning the crap outta things :D

Originally posted by Dyner

Originally posted by sudo

I wonder how many servers will be left after GW2 release...

 

Pretty much think the age of MMOs is over. I throughly enjoy Co-op now more than I do my MMOs. There's just something to be said about sitting down with friends and blugeoning the crap outta things :D

 

Different genres for different people. And about 14 million people disagree with you and are happily enjoying one MMO or another. GW2 will kill nothing. You might be excited about a game you really know nothing about, but those of us who had no interest in GW1, do not like co-op console ripoffs and arent into FPS / point and click Dune 2 clones will be playing MMO's for a very long time to come yet.

And btw, about a month after launch, GW2 forum will be full of you and your mates proclaiming how its dying, how its dreadful, how no one is playing it, and how you hated it before it was even launched.

Eve....still has a huge subscriber base, at any given time they see between 30-45k people logged in.  People are jumping to conclusions here.  People want to talk about servers?  Everquest, the first everquest is still pay to play, still has content released(albeit very slowly now) and still has a handful of servers with a descent population.  Now, if in the 15 or so years since everquest launched it's still around, can we assume the same for any current mmo?  it's just overreacting. 

Originally posted by Dyner

Originally posted by sudo

I wonder how many servers will be left after GW2 release...

 

Pretty much think the age of MMOs is over. I throughly enjoy Co-op now more than I do my MMOs. There's just something to be said about sitting down with friends and blugeoning the crap outta things :D

So because you enjoy co-op play over MMOs the whole genre is finished? Like to make any more global predictions based on your likes and dislikes?

The game is suffering from "same-itis".The patients symptoms are now obvious  even to laymen.

I don't think Rift players have too much to worry about as far as the future of the game is concerned - whether it does go F2P or not.  It'll be around a long time yet and F2P may even give it a boost if that ever did happen.

The more worrying aspect is the creative use of words used by Trion, but then I suppose that's what businesses do whether private or shareholder owned.  Whatever it takes to keep confidence in its products high.

The MMO market is a very, very competitive one and it is natural that they will see their user base ebb and flow.  As long as they are still holding a fair share of the overall user base then the end is not nigh, even if a swap to a different business model to keep it competitive is.

Relax, breathe deeply and keep on playing.  What was it those posters said during WW2?  Keep Calm And Carry On.

This made me LOL.

So because you enjoy co-op play over MMOs the whole genre is finished? Like to make any more global predictions based on your likes and dislikes? 

Baked Beans will be a thing of the past because I'm SooOOoo into alphabetti Spaghetti.

I know everyone's going to blow past this post and I'm wasting my time, but I'll say this again for about the billionth time..........

These Trion is failing claims are getting so old.  I don't even play Rift, but Massively recently had an article not too long ago (srry to lazy to link) stating Trion is continuing to hire employees and are currently sitting at 532.  They have 2 potentially major games in development one of which is linked with SyFy channel.  Both of which are potentially big moves in business spaces with few if any competitors.  One space being MMORTS the other being an MMO fully integrated with television.  Performing business using this idea is how tons of businesses have found success and is the same idea Nintendo was operating off of that yielded the Wii.  The same article also suggested that they have made their money back on Rift and are raking in about 70% profit on subs. 

So yeah they have basically given the game away for free through sales, etc.  At this point it doesn't matter.  The logic behind that wasn't "we're going to go out of business unless we move more units!"  It was the exact opposite.  They don't need any more box sales or sub numbers except to keep the servers running.  Anything above and beyond can go to further development of Rift, other titles, and Trion itself.

Let's also not forget that Trion's big selling point wasn't Rift.  In fact they developed their main product prior to ever starting work on Rift.  It was the server technology powering Rift.  This is what they've always wanted to be their big money maker.  Rift is simply a demonstration of the power of that server technology in action.

I know it's scary to think that there might actually be a financially successful themepark MMO out there made in the last year or so, but it's true.  Rift isn't a game suited to my taste, but I'll be damned if I want to see a quality company like Trion fail.  They're far from perfect, but they appear to have a solid work ethic and are dedicated to delivering a finished and polished product.  Instead of clamoring for these companies to fail we should be seeking to support companies like this one even if it's not through financial support, but simply by not tearing them down on forums for no reason except for the fact that we don't enjoy their game.

Originally posted by teakbois

Originally posted by Lafinatu

 It's not dishonest it's a PR spin. Dishonesty is removing a feature that was in a game and renaming a medium setting to high and not telling your paying customers. You know what I'm talking about.....

 

It is indeed dishonest.

They are saying they need these 11 servers for a trial promotion.  If they run a trial promotion with 44 NA servers I will eat my words, but they have 33 perfectly good trial servers so its pretty ludicrous to assume they need more.

Here is a way to spin it while being honest:

In order to create a better experience for players we are aanicng the population across the servers.

Doesnt use words 'merge' or 'close', but still contains truth.

So it is dishonest if they don't use the term merge when you want them to? it is dishonest if they call these old server trial servers instead of shutting them down completely? Welcome to the center of the universe, population one.

All they are doing is instead of actually shutting down servers and forcing people to move and loose their names on a preset schedule they are simply declaring servers to be old no longer recommended without going so far as actually calling them dead servers since they might use them some day in the future.

This is smart for several reasons. Some people are simply subborn and would rather play on a dying server than move somewhere else and loose a name or have to join a new guild or what ever. In this case, Trion is saying, ok your server is now flagged for people to go from rather than to and we really really recommend that you move somewhere else but we are not going to force you to move or force you to move in any particular time frame or even to force you to move to a particular server. you get to choose all the terms of your move. We are just recommending that you do move. And for those who absolutely never want to move, "I will play on this server 'til the day I die and you brats can't make me move", no matter what come hell or high water. Well, that is actually a workable choice. If thats what they want.

Second, If they do a super big promotion that does pull in enough new players to say fill 15 servers then they can direct those people to 15 of the trial servers. This way new people will be running with new people and enjoying all the low level areas and events just like we did in the first weeks of the game. Further, they don't have to worry as much with people filling up existing high pop servers and creating queues on them.

So is calling these old, semi-defunct servers trial servers dishonest? That is at least to strong a word for it. Sure it is putting a positive spin on an otherwise disappointing reality but they have not told anybody anything to purposely mislead. But it is also a reasonable terminology give they way that they chose to handle "server mergers."

Originally posted by VoIgore

This whole trial server PR spin is starting to get annoying.

"Bottom line is that we’re not merging any servers" -bottom line is your game is down from almost 1mio to about 150-200k within like 4 month.

Bottom line is that "we're not in Azeroth anymore" is now "there's not anyone in Telara anymore".

I still like the game, but Trion is getting on my nerves with their false pretends.

 

First, it's been well over 6 months (not 4 months).  Second, please provide a source for your numbers - I don't think Trion has ever published them.  I would certainly believe near 1m at launch.  I would not believe 80%+ loss of subs - there was a noticable drop when SWTOR released but I'd be willing to bet at least some of those people are still paying for Rift - even then, it was nowhere near an 80% decrease (and that's as a Guardian on Byriel which has always had a lower Guardian population so some of the losses have just been people transfering to higher-pop shards).

worst suport ever seen. on all mails only bot answering call us via phone call us via phone! damn have problems to call it (wrong number) and always this damn bot answering! Just wanted to change my password and i forgot 2 security quetion(all other details i remember correct)  Damn fkn trion support  make me to forget about my account i think  cause really dunno how to call the nu,mber they have on a site:(

I haven't believed Blizzard's 10 mill subs claim EVER, I believe it is the total number of subscribers EVER more likely.

I tried the trial after having left WoW 3.5 months after release, and I couldn't play it more than 10 mins, after all the downloads, deleted, it is now that pathetic to me vs games I have played since.

I would go back to Age of Conan,  EQ2, Rift, and even Vanguard before WoW.

I am still ticked off at their being no DAOC 2, Mythic really BLEW THAT op.

MMO wise I am only looking forward to Guild Wars 2 and Diablo 3, different styles though, I know.

I am skipper of that Star Wars thing.