Selling points

[Duraluminium]

As the PVP server works more or less stable lately, it's time to review the problem of it's low population.
I'd like to try to look at it not from the point of view of the people who are already playing there, but from the point of view of those who have not decided to join. That's because again and again I face the situation that somebody asks me where do I currently play (as ppl who I played earlier with tend to ask me from time to time where is wpvp ongoing), and I tell that I play on Octo PVP, it's a good server as PVP is always on, etc. But their first question is always about how long will it take for them to start playing PVP. And as there is close to zero PVP on leveling, it ends up in me telling them it's 1x xp rates (with renewable rested bonus), and that it will take around 3 weeks of solo leveling to reach lvl 60 to start playing PVP with us. Almost none of them even want to listen further, they never join.

So let's try to find the selling points for the server. I'll form my version of the list of pros and cons in the eyes of normal PVP players.

Pros:
1. PVP is always on - a great thing, but it becomes great only on lvl 60. Until then it's a very situational thing, most of the time irrelevant
2. No layers - a great thing for PVP. Some players are used to switching layers to escape enemy, but for most PVP players layers are disgusting
3. No flight - another great thing. Flight ruins WPVP
4. Gear available for honor. It's far from perfect (and I can tell what exactly in my opinion needs to be changed there), but overall it's a way to get competitive gear without PVE raids, so another great thing

Cons:
1. 1x xp rate (even with rested bonus) - it's a very damaging thing for the server population. In my experience most people just refuse to join when they hear that rate is 1x and current pop is around 400
2. No arena (even the one that worked on 1.17 on TA is disabled). Solo queue unranked arena was a great way to have some fun, it was perfect to fill the gaps when bgs do not proc. If there was arena available, I could tell ppl that there is arena on lvl 60, and for many it would be a good selling point
3. Class imbalance in PVP. I've stopped talking of this one after BM hunters got nerfed to the ground while shamans are still more OP than anything, but I cannot escape mentioning it here. Especially if arena launches at some point, this one would become a giant problem. What's the point of going into a tight space vs a shaman shocker tank, for example?
4. Outdated game engine that requires a lot of mods just to work. I don't think that devs can really do anything about it right now (except maybe if they included the dlls into the game itself somehow?). Probably Unreal Azeroth can solve this one at some point in the future.
5. Low population. Yes, it's not just the outcome, but also a problem, cause when people hear about the combo of 1x xp and 400 population, they deny to join immediately. Increase server population by giving away some temporary xp boosts and other stuff, and when the pop hits 1k+, just remove those bonuses. I feel that if it was 1k+ instead of 400, that would sound good enough for the most potential players.

[Hfm1]

That server never had a chance with warmode on the PVE realm with a bigger population and no transfers. So besides starting over there are alot of downsides rolling on the PVP realm. U cant even do PVP there u dont see players and BG´s are dead until idk i hope they get some going on 60 but would not count on that.

Fast xp is not the solution and slow xp is not the problem. Fact is pvp got rid of itself by toxic behavior and endless ganking. Especially on a low pop server u will get one of those few people that having a blast killing low lvls. I somehow even understand that but the lack from the pvp player to see the bigger picture and the health of his own game mode is what made these servers fail. Fresh blood is an easy victim but also what keeps servers alive. Like humanty is doing with animals until we notice ah damn that cow i should have not ganked 4h straight i maybe want the milk later.

Nobody wants it anymore thats why the pop is low. I started there and im so glad i just swalloed the xfaction thing and went the Nzoth. And no i did not get ganked i just didnt see anybody there. Also PVP balance here is a joke before that gets a serious treatment i dont even think about doing PVP here.

[Knifewrench]

That server never had a chance with warmode on the PVE realm with a bigger population and no transfers. So besides starting over there are alot of downsides rolling on the PVP realm. U cant even do PVP there u dont see players and BG´s are dead until idk i hope they get some going on 60 but would not count on that.

Fast xp is not the solution and slow xp is not the problem. Fact is pvp got rid of itself by toxic behavior and endless ganking. Especially on a low pop server u will get one of those few people that having a blast killing low lvls. I somehow even understand that but the lack from the pvp player to see the bigger picture and the health of his own game mode is what made these servers fail. Fresh blood is an easy victim but also what keeps servers alive. Like humanty is doing with animals until we notice ah damn that cow i should have not ganked 4h straight i maybe want the milk later.

Nobody wants it anymore thats why the pop is low. I started there and im so glad i just swalloed the xfaction thing and went the Nzoth. And no i did not get ganked i just didnt see anybody there. Also PVP balance here is a joke before that gets a serious treatment i dont even think about doing PVP here.

This lowby camping is a made up issue that hardly ever happens, and the people that do get bountys and are hunted. Ud know if ud play on yshaarj

[Duraluminium]

This lowby camping is a made up issue that hardly ever happens, and the people that do get bountys and are hunted. Ud know if ud play on yshaarj

I don't know where they getting these stories of 'BaD tOxIc GaNkErS' from. Even when some higher lvl ganks a lowbie, I never seen them sitting on the corpse for a long time. And those ganks happened on the start of the server, I didn't hear of any of them for a long. Not many lowbies playing, and not many people ganking.
Most wpvp fights outside of big raids happen when a lvl 60 is searching for another lvl 60 for a reason.

[Cope12]

That server never had a chance with warmode on the PVE realm with a bigger population and no transfers. So besides starting over there are alot of downsides rolling on the PVP realm. U cant even do PVP there u dont see players and BG´s are dead until idk i hope they get some going on 60 but would not count on that.

Fast xp is not the solution and slow xp is not the problem. Fact is pvp got rid of itself by toxic behavior and endless ganking. Especially on a low pop server u will get one of those few people that having a blast killing low lvls. I somehow even understand that but the lack from the pvp player to see the bigger picture and the health of his own game mode is what made these servers fail. Fresh blood is an easy victim but also what keeps servers alive. Like humanty is doing with animals until we notice ah damn that cow i should have not ganked 4h straight i maybe want the milk later.

Nobody wants it anymore thats why the pop is low. I started there and im so glad i just swalloed the xfaction thing and went the Nzoth. And no i did not get ganked i just didnt see anybody there. Also PVP balance here is a joke before that gets a serious treatment i dont even think about doing PVP here.

why do you pvers even bother replying to these posts this has absolutely nothing to do with you and every time we make a common sense suggestion that the majority of our server pop would agree with you come in here and reply negatively out of spite go back to your pve bot containment space and dont come back.

[Knifewrench]

This lowby camping is a made up issue that hardly ever happens, and the people that do get bountys and are hunted. Ud know if ud play on yshaarj

I don't know where they getting these stories of 'BaD tOxIc GaNkErS' from. Even when some higher lvl ganks a lowbie, I never seen them sitting on the corpse for a long time. And those ganks happened on the start of the server, I didn't hear of any of them for a long. Not many lowbies playing, and not many people ganking.
Most wpvp fights outside of big raids happen when a lvl 60 is searching for another lvl 60 for a reason.

Its what the bored pvers do on their realm to people lvling in warmode i guess, and then they make tickets they get ganked

[Adesta113]

and when the pop hits 1k+, just remove those bonuses

I'm not PvP fan and logging at PvP only when HC is down, but just curios is there any other vanilla or vanilla+ PvP only server with such pop? After closing twow I checked v+ and it was dead (even with 1k pop they still pvp, so not for me). Kronos as I know didn't show own pop? Any other? I mean is it real at all reach 1k on pvp?

[Knifewrench]

and when the pop hits 1k+, just remove those bonuses

I'm not PvP fan and logging at PvP only when HC is down, but just curios is there any other vanilla or vanilla+ PvP only server with such pop? After closing twow I checked v+ and it was dead (even with 1k pop they still pvp, so not for me). Kronos as I know didn't show own pop? Any other? I mean is it real at all reach 1k on pvp?

Ta had periods with 3k players.

[Duraluminium]

and when the pop hits 1k+, just remove those bonuses

I'm not PvP fan and logging at PvP only when HC is down, but just curios is there any other vanilla or vanilla+ PvP only server with such pop? After closing twow I checked v+ and it was dead (even with 1k pop they still pvp, so not for me). Kronos as I know didn't show own pop? Any other? I mean is it real at all reach 1k on pvp?

Tel'Abim on Turtle WOW was 3.2k a year ago

[Berdal]

This is how I see our population situation:

Untitled.png (12.97 KiB) Viewed 33762 times

As long as the devs stay anonymous, we'll be fine. To me, population is only going one direction in the long run.

Now imagine if we'll get UE5 as well down the line. Same graphics, just upgrades all over.