Thread: Server wipe?

If I were to vote right now what to do... I would vote for wiping everything but characters. I wouldn't get angry or upset if everyone wanted to do a full wipe though. I think the amount of time to gather, build, tame, gain xp on dinos, etc is a huge amount of time and effort as it is.

I would argue against changing any of the server settings.

Good info. Keep it coming..

Also, if there was going to be a wipe I would want it to happen as soon as possible. I am not going to bother doing much in game now if we are going to be doing a wipe.

I don't like increasing the dino tame rate because low level to medium level dinos are easily tamed as it is and the high level stuff 80+ takes awhile but the reward for doing so is awesome. Also, didn't the tame rate just get increased not long ago?

I do agree with you MeenaSan... I don't like the idea of crushing new players or being crushed myself. I think 20 players on during peak hours would be perfect as well. I like my space.

My 2 cents on server growth. I am not sure how many randoms look for unofficial servers with low pop where they don't know anyone. My guess is not many. I think our low numbers may have more to do with low numbers than with settings.

The Decision
We talked about this well in advance of the biome release, full well understanding there would be a substantial map change and as a result, player impact. The decisions were made:
- There will not be a character wipe.
- There will not be a base or dino wipe unless for technical or game balance reasons.

For example:
Base example: Should the resilience of the material qualities be changed, but not retroactively corrected. It wouldn't be fair that post-patch metal walls be of 500 health, while pre-patch metal walls maintained a 15,000 health.

Dino example: Similarly, if dinos underwent a change that fundamentally altered their characteristics that left pre-patch tames with a sizable advantage, that too would be inappropriate.

The Why
* As repeatedly proven time and again, routine wipes in a persistent environment game have a detrimental affect on community retention.
* Neither a Technical or Game Balance reason has manifested since map release that mandates a wipe to preserve fair competition.


Comments
"My base and surrounding area is no longer situated in a location I would have chosen. If I have to relocate, effectively starting over because of something outside of my control, shouldn't that disadvantage apply to everyone equally?"

- You are playing an alpha access product still in development stages; Changes are to be expected. You spend your entertainment hours here with a level of assumed risk.

- A number of advantages are also in your favor:
1) Demolish feature provides the return of a substantial portion of materials in their refined state allowing for easier transport and relocation.

2) Each of us have numerous lessons learned from our experience with game construction, item sizes and capacities and required resources. Tearing down an existing structure for relocation and rebuild provides a "do over" allowing for better design decisions. On the contrary, a wipe would set you further behind and be more discouraging to the player.

A wipe imposes a greater hardship on a greater number of players and does not solve a problem or enhance the intrinsic game play competitiveness.
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"If we start over fresh, we can more judiciously spend engrams on things that matter and not waste them on items that blueprints would provide"

- An in game mechanic already exists for this [Mind Wipe Tonic]. Harvest the materials, create it, and your character is reset to level 1, yet with all the experience. You can remap all of your engrams and attributes.
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"If we wipe, we can change the game variables such as night cycles, taming speeds, and resource yields to something else I prefer."

- All of these actions can be taken dynamically and do not require a server wipe to implement. The current values are already in place based on community feedback and are always open to adjustment based on future feedback or game changes.



Tlr - We decided not to wipe anything ahead of time and there's still no reason to. Also, wipes don't help population, they hurt.

I don't have experience with open world survival games where building is involved... so I can't speak to whether or not wiping the server would bring in new people or not.

Originally Posted by Whiskey_Tempest

Tlr - We decided not to wipe anything ahead of time and there's still no reason to. Also, wipes don't help population, they hurt.

Then we will see the same exact thing we've seen with every single Arma or Rust instance we've ever run. Historically, the group dynamic has been a major player in the failure of any given server.

The larger and more progressed the groups get, the large the barriers to entry become. It's going to get to the point where 1 or 2 player groups feel belittled within days and find a new home with a dynamic environment. Our environment isn't dynamic, and it will ultimately cause it to fail. We've been through this many times. I think it's time we try some things that we've stifled in the past.

There's a reason people aren't playing here and maybe Civils' right, but maybe, just maybe, it's because we stick to the same shit that's failed over and over again.