To GM's, Ideas/Feedback on how to increase server population. PvE, PvP!

Before you start reading, this post is mostly addressed to Lycidas and Abysswalker. Feel free to leave a comment or new ideas.

As I am writing this post, we currently have 70 players online, which is a very small number for Aion. And from what I have seen on the weekend we have reached 200 players online at max. This is currently the “Main” problem of this server and until something is done to increase the population, PvP and PvE will suffer. For all the PvPers out there, yes those are ideas mostly focus on PvE content but hear me out.

Base Rate and V.I.P :

First, let's start with the server rate. As of right now, they are way too slow for the population we have, even with V.I.P. I find myself barely wanting to play on the weekdays because farming for matts is more than a full-time job. The broker is completely empty and everything is over priced. In other terms, there is no economy.

What I am suggesting here is to use the premium rate as a base for this server but also increasing the drop rate to 2x. Note that 30% Crit Craft rate, 2x Kinah Quest Rate should not be part of it.

4x Exp Rate
4x Group Exp Rate
4x Quest Exp Rate
2x Gathering Exp Rate
1x Gathering Count Rate
2x Crafting Exp Rate
2x Drop Rate  

This will help new players get to 55 faster and enjoy end game content (This server will never be a 2.7 grind for leveling since it is based on 3.9 Exp rate and players who want that are rare). Second, the 2x base drop rate will make it more playable during the week for free 2 play players. (More to follow on this)

As for V.I.P, it should be reduced to 15$ per month (More affordable and this is what you will find for most subscription-based games). V.I.P should have the 30% Crit Craft rate, 2x Kinah Quest and it’s drop rate increase to 3% (I would still play for this, so many others.)

4x Exp Rate
4x Group Exp Rate
4x Quest Exp Rate
2x Gathering Exp Rate
2x Gathering Count Rate
2x Crafting Exp Rate
30% Crit Craft Rate
2x Quest Kinah Rate
3x Drop Rate
0.5 PvP AP Loss Rate
No Soul Sickness

This will help players who like crafting and farming and start to build up the economy slowly if resources are more available or easier to obtain.

These changes are not game-breaking and will speed up the processes for everything according to the population and still keep the servers at a low rate. Just a little faster.

Drop rate and Exp Event :

These should be kept for the weekend, Start on Friday and End on Monday as they currently are with the same rate.

PvE Instance (Udas, Lower Udas, and Beshmundir Temple) :  

Let's start with “Gold” gear. Drop rate should be increased to help players complete the Beshmundir set, Vorpal weapon, or get gold accessories. This will help players get out of coin gear faster and able to run instances like EC easier. Doing this change hopefully increases the amount of Pug you will find in LFG since there will be a reason to use your CD during the week.  

“Eternal Gear Should be left unchanged” with the drop rate increase you will find it dropping more often and it will still be somewhat slow to get a full Stormwing Set and Weapon (Don’t worry PvPers I got some stuff for you).

EC, CC :

Recent changes to the instance that have been made are great, this will force players to complete the whole instance, which does take a good amount of time, but for good rewards.
“Yes” it is still buggy, but we all know Lycidas is working hard on it and these kinds of things take time, so hang in there. Change to other PvE instances will also help more players get to the end, with random groups and get their rewards. (More geared players, more open world PvP, more fun right?)

Sieges: This is very important.

Changes that have to be made are very simple, and siege won’t get better by forcing players to attend them for a full hour for rewards.

The population is currently low and capturing a fort that is held by another faction is extremely hard. The remedy to this situation, Dux and Gates HP should be reduced. If forts are easier to capture, there will be an incentive to try to get them and Defend them. We will see more of them flipping instead of looking at them being held by the same Legion/Faction for months.

So in other terms, Dux HP (This also included Gates) should be adapted to the population, one faction should be able to capture a fort in the 10 minutes of their Xforms. They will flip more often, there will be a reason for players to be high rank and hold Xform. As the population grows more, we adapt to it again. Increase HP little at a time.

Inggi/Gelk Forts capture are fun but right now impossible and will stay like this unless changes are made. (Asmo even lost theirs to Balaur, this should tell a lot.)

Plat Medals :

If you look at the rates right now, they are too slow since it takes around 1000+ medals to get full AP55 armor, Accessories, and Weapons. This is not retail, and will never be. People want to get gear and go PvP, but not in coin gear and not in 1 year.

3 fix :

Fort Captures and Defences in Inggi and Gelk is one.

Second, Esso should Drop Medals in every box and reset scroll for the instance removed. You control the rates at which players get them. (Yes I am aware that clerics can solo the instance and most people are able to duo it.) But, more people with PvE gear, more players will be able to do so.

Third, daily medals quest should continue even after 40 times. Again, you control the rate at which players get medals, 4 per day from this.

The grind for AP55 gear will be less painful, and the rate at which you gain medals steady. Again, more players with gear, more PvP.

Arena:

Getting one ticket per day makes it slow to get arena gear, which would be a very good starter for most players. A solution to this would be to have 2 tickets per day, but it should come during the weekend, just like the Exp Buff and Drop rates buff.

As for complaints of the arena not popping or players dodging, this will not change because of the fact that under-geared players don’t want to go in to just get 2 shots by someone gear and even less feed them free win when they get barely anything. (That's just common sense and everyone does it, people want fair chances in everything.)

Your problem is the population and nothing else, more players geared and you’ll find yourself in good arena fights more often.

As for Harmony, I’m sure a fix will come, just be patient.

Live Events:

I do not believe this is the right solution right now to help the server, they are a small team, and they should focus priority on fixing other issues.

GM’s :

One thing I’ve noticed, you guys are getting burned out, getting messages on discord all day I can only imagine (And for certain players out there, donating to the server doesn’t make you entitled to ask whatever who wants to them.)  

For GM’s and future one, I believe interaction with players should be kept to a minimum. Private messages on Discord should not be answered unless it is for a donation issue where it involves real money.

In-game announcements should be used for server maintenance and events. Nothing else, otherwise, people think they own you.  

As for players, we all run instances and sometimes lose loot, it’s part of the game. Take a screenshot, make a post on the forum in the right section, report the bug and I’m sure you will receive an answer when GM’s are free to look into them. Again, you’re not entitled to favors just because you donated to the servers. They run a business, we are customers, not buddy buddy, use the right resources when something happens.

Good critics and feedback on the server should always be supported, but at the end of the day, you are in charge of your server and the final decision should come down to you, not people crying in Deava’s chat on Discord. Make the best one, it’s your business, not mine, and not theirs. (Note: I feel the same about this post I just made, only here to give ideas and feedback).  

To Lycidas and Abysswalker, if you’d like more feedback or ideas, feel free to message me on the forum. TY!

To the people who took the time to read all of it, TY! Feel free to leave some more ideas or add to some of them.

To close this, having a healthy population doesn't only mean having hardcore players, they don't run the server, and if anyone thinks like that that you are very mistaken. To have a healthy population, you need casual, you need farmers, you need crafters, you need PvE players, you need PvP players you need hardcore players playing 24/7. If you want to increase your chance of making this server really successful, you need to help every one of those players and not only a handful. Retail died because of straight P2W, not because we had too many of a certain player, we need all.