jorim wrote:Staff
You claim you have 16 developers, which I find hard to believe. Nevertheless it would be amazing if it’s true. But please inform us then how does team looks like: what are their (forum)-names and for what part are they responsible?
You won't be receiving that info. Even if you do it won't be the real one. Anyone that has been a GM knows that the only time the Staff Team shares such information is if the Developer in question is part of the Admin Team, thus guaranteeing he is only working on this project. If the Developers in question are ones that are hired from external sources - no information will be shared.
jorim wrote:Sustainability of the server
Sustainability is mainly about credibility and having a good public relations manager, these things are key to server population. YOU NEED THIS.
This is true.
jorim wrote:Let’s be honest the vanilla community has seen a lot of servers come and go like scriptcraft, rebirth and Q-gaming. [...] and technical problems (getting DDOS’ed and bad cheat protection).
Following you so far.
jorim wrote:If you can prove your server will last a while people will bother leveling blizzlike x1.
Lost you right about here. I'm not sure if this is a advice, a request or a demand. Assuming it's advice: The wording there is rather questionable. Assuming it's either of the last two: How is one supposed to showcase, in a way that clears the minds of anyone looking at said "evidence" of any reasonable doubt, "Sustainability of the server" in a Forum Post? Or any other way, for that matter, outside of actually allowing people to play on the server?
jorim wrote:Feenix:
- corrupt management (core people athairne, claudian, feenixes and database are gone)
Doubt it, highly. I've worked for them for a couple of months during the first half year of the highrates realm, which is now known as Warsong, which must have been at least 5 years ago. Correct was the Senior GM at the time and I learned during my time there that they wouldn't let go of that cash cow even if their life depended on it. Feenixies and Athairne (Kiss) would never leave the project unless they sold it, which I highly doubt they would as that server will, most likely, be up for years to come - generating a very steady flow of income.
jorim wrote:- they only care about donations now, you pay to win
The use of the word "now" is unnecessary in that sentence. It has always been that way. That's how they do business. And whether we like it or not, clearly, it's working.
jorim wrote:- bad scripts
*nod* But they never claimed to be going for fully Blizzlike scripts. Except for the few starter months when they thought it'd be easy. An exception is Emerald Dream, but ED isn't really part of the "Feenix Realms", it is not run by the same Team. It's a sister project. Feenix doesn't specialize in providing "True Blizzlike x1 Fun" - Never has.
jorim wrote:- they have no developers anymore nothing is fixed
Been that way for years. None of the fixes that were applied during the last 3-4 years (Warsong) were made by the Feenix Dev Team - because they didn't exist. Those scripts were bought from other teams experienced in Vanilla content. They either bought the scripts or the time of the Dev that worked on that script in that Team. The actual Devs left around the same time I did, for the exact same reasons, as well.
jorim wrote:- they spend their time censoring everything on the forum that criticizes the project or mentions other projects
Only tip of the iceberg. They've banned entire guilds, best ones on each faction, simply because they were disliked by many other guilds below them and in banning them the Staff Team turned "Exalted" with the playerbase - for a while. Examples I can give during my time playing there - Alliance: <Pure Luck>, <Argent Crusade>. Horde: <Ridin Dirty>. If you're on a Feenix realm - The forum bans and edits are the least of your worries.
jorim wrote:- it's matter of time before it dies
Short: No.
Long: That applies to everything in this world. What you meant to say is that its demise is imminent. Which isn't true. ED? Perhaps. Archangel? Maybe. Doubtful, but maybe. Warsong? Nope. Not anytime soon. Why? Well, Warsong addresses one thing that no other Vanilla server out there does, not as good as Feenix does it, one of the fatal flaws of Vanilla; XP rates/Endgame Availability. This isn't a matter of opinion. It's a flaw. A design flaw. One that Blizzard admitted to in many interviews and addressed (as far as "fixes" go), more then once. This isn't about whether or not I, you, or anyone else that has been around since 2004-5-6 likes x10 or not. It's about what the new people, the fresh blood, thinks. And what do they think about having to level 1 character to max level in at least 6 months? Not so appealing. Especially when you're coming here from WoTLK/Cata/MoP etc. Don't say it won't take that long - It will. Even if you know what to do and where, if it's your first ever character in Vanilla it will take you far longer then 2 months to max it. Warsong offers an alternative: 1 week on your first char. Once you get into the groove of x10: 1 day.
Why is that "better"? 1. Easier for the new players and feels far more familiar to them since the leveling rates are very similar to retail. 2. Far more replay value for current players. Replay value where it matters the most; Endgame. Since it takes you just 1 day to level to 60 it means you skip the boring part you've done so many times before and get to experience the game on a new class you've never played on before; Be it PvE or PvP. Matter of fact, Feenix ensures that you can get into the fray as soon as possible by not only increasing the XP rates but also "breaking" the attunements needed to enter. Either simplifying them or straight up removing them as a requirement to enter.
I don't agree with how Feenix does business - but they know how to keep a realm alive. Let's talk some facts: Retail Vanilla Server - High Population - Around 40,000 unique accounts active throughout 24 hours. Makes sense why the realm would be x1. Having this many people playing on a realm that is only >growing< in population means that everyone can find someone else who is in the same need as them and therefore adding a great value to the 1-55 experience. Let's talk Private Servers - High Population - Around 4,000 unique accounts online throughout 24 hours. We consider that rather good population nowadays. As it means that at any one point there should be around 1.2-2.7k people online. But it's nowhere near enough for x1.
Here is why: During the first half year of a x1 server, such as this, if the Project has been marketed well, there is a very big flow of players. We're talking multiple thousands of unique accounts. Many of these players, in game, will be weeded out. For many different reasons. Blizzlike Vanilla is a Selection Process. Not everyone makes it to 60, not everyone that is 60 makes it to raiding, not everyone that is 60 stays for long etc. Around a thousand of us will reach 60 within the first couple of months and begin raiding - Which is great numbers. Question is; Can they be sustained? In order to sustain Endgame Community: Current Months Growth >/= Last Months Growth - must be true. If it's not; you're looking at a steady decline.
So let's be a little realistic - With ED/Kronos being the main competitors (ED due to a good reputation it doesn't deserve and Kronos due to being a direct competitor with a already established playerbase), Warsong as a highrate alternative being a minor, yet ever present, competition, and Retail delivery a blow each year to the entire Private Server Scene - how high are the chances that the flow of new players will be equal or greater then that during the initial year? My estimation? Unless something revolutionary is done - as near none as you can get.
Which means: decline. Where will the decline stop? Around 300-400 people per faction, if lucky.
^ That, is what Feenix realized. They were in direct competition with multiple other Projects at the time (Such as Molten Core WoW) that were going "True Blizzlike x1" (Sound familiar?). Feenix played them on their weakness: x1 takes a very large playerbase, as far as Endgame Community goes, to sustain. The Team did everything they could to outgrow the other servers (Although most of it was done by simply setting XP to x7, which is what it was at the time. Most of the people will always go to more balanced XP rate realm. And x1 is nowhere near the meaning of "balanced" as far as a low population realm goes), thereby gaining the reputation of being the most "alive" one, which is a title they still hold today. When people logged onto to those x1 Realms they were lucky if they found at least 100 level 60's online. This became the downfall of those servers as the Admins could no longer sustain something that seemingly served no purpose, while the few players that remained split into different factions refusing to work together - serving only to further decline the population as no PvE progress was made and PvP wasn't active enough. Many of them, such as Molten Core WoW, were absorbed by Feenix, which only added to their active population as well as gave them access to scripts they could've never created on their own.
The bane of any server, good scripts or not, Blizzlike or not, is low population. Feenix found a way, their way, to solve this problem. And the solution is working, to this day. How many other Vanilla servers can claim they've maintained 1.2-2.7k online players at any one time, for what is now 5 years? Like it or not - it works. And it will continue working. Until someone makes a Highrates Server with Blizzlike Scripts. But no one tries to - Which I never understood. There are thousands of players out there waiting for a server like that and yet what stops people with the knowledge and capability to dig into this gold mine seems to be nothing else but some sort of a misplaced sense of righteousness.
The best idea to counter Feenix's Warsong would be to create a server with choosable XP rates. Simply allow the commands and set a limit. I'd make x3 the limit (But x5 would be the best idea - even if it's a little too high for me). This would allow everyone to level at a rate they are comfortable at, while ensuring that even those that do chose x3 have to work for their 60. There are diehard x1's out there that would be outraged and leave - but from my experience, they were never a important addition to the community anyway. They're there mostly for the leveling experience, which means that their value at Endgame is non existent as they tend to focus on multiboxing, questing, roleplaying or generally fucking around. They're very rarely dedicated PvP'ers and Hardcore PvE'ers. And the main reason, which you see them very rarely admit, to why they want the x1 so badly is because they know how well it weeds out the competition. These people are good at perseverance and not much else, which is why they want to utilize this advantage as much as possible. Highrate denies them the chance to do so and they find themselves outplayed.
Moving on.
jorim wrote:What is planned to be improved? Will there be a server status tab which shows number of players online? An Armory?
Unlikely you will be receiving an answer to those questions. Not a definitive one. If one was to be given it would be the equivalent of the Staff Team allowing the Community to put them into a choke-hold, where there would now be things and features that are expected of them. Things that have come to be expected of a Staff Team due to "promises" are never relevant to what is needed in the moment. The Private Server life always includes having to prioritize what needs to be done >now<, and once you're done addressing that urgent task there is always something else that needs immediate attention. The longer the time between them giving a definitive statement to these questions and actually implementing said changes - the worse reputation the Staff Team gets with their playerbase.
jorim wrote:How do you plan to make revenue to cover costs?
This one, I know you won't receive an answer to. Not fully accurate one, anyway. Something vague perhaps. Not much besides that.
jorim wrote:TBC
The faq states that a TBC server will be released after a couple of months. You make it sound like you do that overnight. Considering that Corecraft has been in development for over 2 years. This sounds hard to believe, I suggest you stay realistic and stick to Vanilla for now.
I agree with the suggestion. But there is nothing wrong with keeping an eye on the horizon. I think it's good that they have a goal they're working towards. I'd love to have a TBC realm open so that when I have cleared Naxx I could transfer the character to TBC once a KT kill has been confirmed. That'd be a dream come true. Not sure if that is what they have in mind - but it would be a great feature, that makes the server standout, and gives superior replay value to any other server out there. And since this is the suggestion section, I might as well throw a couple of mine out there, right?
jorim wrote:Reviving old Nostalrius characters
I also read in the faq that old nostalrius character might be restored, considering that was when the server was instant lvl 60 this would be very unfair and set a lot of people off. Don’t do this!
I disagree in that I don't see this making any difference what so ever - if the characters are indeed "revived" after 6 months or more. The Beta Testers should be rewarded for their support, and if this means a "free" level 60 half a year after the release - then that sounds fair to me.
jorim wrote:Kronos
As most people know, there is that other project that plans on offering the same experience as nostalrius. I don’t favor either, I really want both to succeed. I hereby ask everyone not the bash on one and another, Kronos and Nostalrius both strive blizzlike perfection. The community needs good alternatives, don’t make the competition bitter.
I agree with this completely. But on a personal note: If push comes to shove - Do what you gotta do.
jorim wrote:The real enemy here is Feenix, they have a big (unhappy) community that needs to know about these alternatives, many players have left there not knowing about alternatives and some still play there because that's all there is.
We know about the alternatives. Most of us having been looking for a good alternative for years. But there is none. Each server that comes out, that is worth going to due to Good Staff Team, Good Scripts, Nice People etc, is x1 (and none of the x1 Servers ever think of adding a instant 50 donation option, which is just flat out dumb in my book as it makes sense to make someone work for the last 10 levels while doing content that is relevant to Vanilla, as well generating cash for the Server in question). Which (The x1 that is) at least 90% of the Feenix Community doesn't care for - and I can't say I blame them. I'm one of such as well. I've had what now must be at least 200 characters in this game, gunning for the second half of the 300's by now, and I've had enough of leveling. I can't stand it as it is at high rate. But having to spend months on it, with no one to experience most of the low level content with? Give me a break. And having to work for months on Alts that the Guild is bound to need as a alternative to your Main? Jesus.
I'll play at x1. But I don't like it. Matter of fact - I hate it. And in that hate - I'm part of the majority of the Private Server Community, anyone that has been around for years knows that much - numbers don't lie.
...I need some water. Damn, that was long.
Let
