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Asheron's Call 2 Suffers World Shrinkage

Posted by simoniker on from the the-walls-are-closing-in dept.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the Microsoft Games page announcing that the Asheron's Call 2 servers are being consolidated, "from the current nine worlds to a total of four worlds." Although no specific reason is given for the contraction of this PC MMORPG, it's presumed that lack of players is causing this consolidation, as the announcement also says: "Darktide will continue to be run as the PvP server. However, the population of the world is low and it may not be possible to keep it running." This merger is in addition to a smaller world merge which occurred this month.

30 comments

  1. AC2 - the perfect example of what not to do by MBraynard · · Score: 5, Insightful
    AC1, while old, was still the 4th largest MMORPG game and it had a pretty solid player development model and combat model. I, like many other AC1 players, was hoping AC2 would be a REAL sequel, taking what was good about AC1 and building on it, making it prettier and more potent.

    Well, the Devs at Turbine/MS decided to scrap what was great about AC1 completely, and made a very pretty yet very laggy brand new game. They also forgot about the content.
    So to this day there are many, many, many more players still in AC1 than in AC2, sort of the definition of a failure. And I don't see that turning around anytime soon.

    1. Re:AC2 - the perfect example of what not to do by SuperRob · · Score: 1

      I think the point was to leave AC1 running so that the people that loved that game would continue to play (and PAY), while AC2 would be a NEW experience. Not more of the same in a prettier shell, but something new.

      Regardless, I don't think it's a failure or even unpopular. But let's face it, AC2 is still fairly new, and most people have dumped it for the next "Johnny-come-lately" MMORPG ... Star Wars Galaxies.

      I personally couldn't be more thrilled. All the JACKASSES have left AC2, and I'm now free to play with people that actually care, while all the people that used to ruin my online experience have left to go torment people in whatever is hot and new. Good riddance.

    2. Re:AC2 - the perfect example of what not to do by MBraynard · · Score: 1

      No, you are incorrect. AC2 was meant to be the place that AC1 would migrate to as MS has discontinued the sales of AC1 and their tech support people have been asking people who call in with AC1 related questions to go play AC2 instead.

    3. Re:AC2 - the perfect example of what not to do by Directrix1 · · Score: 1

      The only reason they are consolidating those servers is because they can't afford the Windows 2003 Advanced Server licenses to upgrade them. :-P

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    4. Re:AC2 - the perfect example of what not to do by SuperRob · · Score: 1

      Actually, you're incorrect. You're using anecdotal evidence to prove your point, but you arrived at the wrong conclusion. AC2 was never meant to REPLACE AC1. What's happenning at Microsoft is that they aren't making as much money per player on AC1 as they could be on AC2, and with the player count dwindling, they're trying to forcably migrate people to AC2. That's a business decision, and has nothing to do with what the original intent of the game was.

    5. Re:AC2 - the perfect example of what not to do by MBraynard · · Score: 1
      No, you are incorrect and simple logic demonsrates it.

      MSFT knew that as time went on, the AC1 engine would become dated and, compared to others, more limited in what it could offer.

      In order to retain the business of players who would leave AC1 inevitably over time, MS made AC2 - also with the intention of attracting new people to the franchise.

  2. Just wait by revmoo · · Score: 1

    I heard a rumor from a friend of a friend that the machines are considering consolidation the planet Earth with 7 other parrallel universes. We're screwed :(

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  3. If this world shrinkage goes on for much longer... by Lady+Jazzica · · Score: 1

    They'll have to rename it "The Little Prince".

  4. Sense of Nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well the reasons behind the cosolidation are numerous. The first reason deals with the small number of people play AC2 per world. This consolidation will help to get all of the players closer together. This means more interactivity and increased encounters in Kingdom vs Kingdom battles. This is a plus for the game.

    The second reason has little to do with the players and a lot to do with the economy. The cost of server maintenance will drop when the worlds are consolidated. Less servers means more overall profits. While this is not of concern to players it does help to support the company who is running the game.

    I must address the previous posts. Whether or not AC2 is better than AC1 is not relevant to this issue. To take that a step further nor is it important if AC2 is a good game. Personall opinions of this game do not factor into the decision to consolidate these servers. Those opinions and the fact that the number of people playing AC2 is less that was expected could be reasons to need less servers, but the main two reason were stated above.

    1. Re:Sense of Nonsense by fehlschlag · · Score: 1

      This consolidation will help to get all of the players closer together. This means more interactivity and increased encounters...

      ...and more lag!

    2. Re:Sense of Nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this some sort of new circular logic troll? Ok, I'll bite.

      Whether or not AC2 is better than AC1 is not relevant to this issue. To take that a step further nor is it important if AC2 is a good game. Personall opinions of this game do not factor... Ummm... yes they do, because opinions of the game are what cause people to play the game or not. It's a reasonable argument to make that the poor quality of AC2 is what has caused the smaller number of players in the game. The smaller number of players is what lead to your two points - 1)that with fewer players you need to consolidate to get more player interaction, and 2)with fewer players you can eliminate unnecessary costs by eliminating servers.

    3. Re:Sense of Nonsense by Centinel · · Score: 1
      I must address the previous posts. Whether or not AC2 is better than AC1 is not relevant to this issue.

      Wrong.

      To take that a step further nor is it important if AC2 is a good game. Personall opinions of this game do not factor into the decision to consolidate these servers.

      They do if a game blows and next to nobody wants to subscribe to it, like AC2.

    4. Re:Sense of Nonsense by analog_line · · Score: 1

      Those opinions and the fact that the number of people playing AC2 is less that was expected could be reasons to need less servers, but the main two reason were stated above.

      Both of the reasons you stated above have everything to do with the fact that it's a hideously unpopular MMORPG. If the game was at all popular, they wouldn't need to get rid of OVER HALF of the servers in order to have increased interactivity and better server populations.

      Also, if there were actually people playing this game, the cost of running the servers wouldn't be the issue. See: Dark Age of Camelot, which has 20 servers running, and only one of those is slated to be decomissioned any time soon (there are two PvP servers, and the popularity of them has declined severely, so one is going away). They don't have an economic problem keeping five times the number of servers Asheron's Call 2 will soon be running, now do they?

      And yes, Personal opinions of the game DO factor into the decision to consolidate, because the personal opinions of gamers are what is resulting in hardly anyone playing the game.

  5. PvP ecosystem by Dr.+Photo · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Darktide will continue to be run as the PvP server. However, the population of the world is low and it may not be possible to keep it running."

    This could be an ecological catastrophe! If the players keep killing each other off, pretty soon there won't be anybody left! :-)

  6. MMOG fact of life by PeteyG · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's a fact of life for MMOGs that unless it's really really good, that the player base will explode for a period of time, and then fall off gradually (or rapidly if the next Star Wars Galaxies comes out). So this is just the natural progression of a MMOG. Eventually, there will probably be one or two servers for the die hard players.

    I expect that a lot of MMOGs will go down to one or two servers, keep only a few guys around for maintenance and operation, jack up the price to 20 bucks a month, and let the fanatic players keep having their fun. That would be a good way for games to stay around, keep the dedicated players happy, and still bring in a bit of money.

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    1. Re:MMOG fact of life by deemah · · Score: 1

      This boom and bust cycle for MMOGs highlights the fickle nature of todays consumers. I think it's a trend that will continue as the computer game market widens, as it has been for the last few years. There's always going to be a bigger, faster, shinier product being sold to the public. Interestingly, there are MUDs, MUSHs and MOOs that have been running for 10 years or more that still have an increasing playerbase as people (re?)discover them. In fact, it's possible that the current boom in MMOGs will inspire even more people to find these (mostly) free games.

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  7. Shrinkage? by stevebob2019 · · Score: 2, Funny

    if they don't want to worry about world shrinkage, just avoid world swimming.

    =sb=

  8. missed opportunity by bigbigbison · · Score: 2, Funny

    They missed an opportunity here. they could have made a big ocmic book style event out of this "Worlds are collapsing!" kind of thing

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  9. What will happen in other games with property? by Krellan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This kind of thing, server consolidation, seems inevitable as the player population of certain online games dwindles.

    I wonder what's going to happen to games that have player-owned infrastructure, such as buildings and property? I don't know if this game, Asheron's Call 2, has this. Everquest 2 is supposed to have this, though. Other games might also have this already. I wonder what will happen when the inevitable conflict occurs: one player owns land on a server, another different player owns the same land on a different server, and those two servers get merged together.

    Has this happened to other games before? If so, what was the outcome? Do they randomly determine which player gets the resources, auction it off, or just give it to the player that's played the longest or reached the highest level? It seems that merging servers would be the fastest way to lose players and finish an online game completely off, as they anger players by taking away the resources they have earned.

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    1. Re:What will happen in other games with property? by Crockerboy · · Score: 1

      DAOC recently contracted their 2 Free-For-All PVP servers to just one server and most considered it a good thing.

      As for land owners, AC2 does not have a housing system for the players, so combining server populations will only result in seeing new faces. AC1, Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot are the only current US-centric(some korean MMOGs may have housing..but there are probably close to a hundred of them now so I've stopped following that scene) MMOGs that currently have housing. UO has been around so long that it is probably going to be the first game to have to handle server contraction at some point in the future. But this is more than likely another 5-10 years in the future..the current playerbase has shown an astounding resilance to company incompetance with regards to OSI/EA and anything short of a EA executive driving to each subscribers house and pissing on their lawn is not going to convince these poor hopeless bastards to leave that corpse of a game.

    2. Re:What will happen in other games with property? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only thing to own landwise is a guild hall. The main problem, and this is the killer IMO, is that established Allegiences from the servers that are being merged consolidated will be broken. For example, I play AC2 in a 200 member allegience, the allegience tree will be broken and everyone will have to meet up again to reswear to their patrons. Getting everyone back WILL NOT happen. Sure, we're exporting our ally tree to log it, but I can't imagine dealing with this problem when you're in a 3-400 person ally.

  10. Planetside. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wish they'd consolidate the Planetside servers. The population seems to have been falling like a rock since Galaxies came out. Even the on-peak times seem very quiet these days.

  11. Re:If this world shrinkage goes on for much longer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Heh :) Doesn't matter that the moderators didn't get it, i had a laugh. I read that book when i was a kid and was totally confused. It was trippy as hell, i guess i should read it again now.

  12. Guess the world pool... by BlackCobra43 · · Score: 1

    was too cold. Oh well,at least no one saw it.

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  13. Re:If this world shrinkage goes on for much longer by moonbender · · Score: 1

    See also Kolor's Le Petit Prince" demo. Not that it's really related, but it was inspirated by "The Little Prince" and it - being the winner or Mekka & Symposium '01 - is great to look at. Same release on pouet.

    Enjoy. :P

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  14. too bad by August_zero · · Score: 1

    Thats too bad. Its actually a pretty likeable game if you give it the chance.

    Why did it fail? because it didn't have a half naked elf chick on the cover like some other MMORPG does.

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  15. Re:If this world shrinkage goes on for much longer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but it was inspirated by

    The word you're looking for is inspired. Some words are already verbs; they don't need to be -ated.

  16. How can you make an RPG without towns? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It doesn't work. You just wander the wilderness looking for MOB's on your radar and hack them.

    The most deadly creature in the whole game is Lag.

  17. Microsoft losing the touch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft pushed a bazillion dollars on Internet Explorer, abused its monopoly and now it's the #1 browser.

    Microsoft pushed a bazillion dollars on XBox, could not abuse its monopoly and failed.

    Ditto with Asheron Call.