[Tim]

This is likely to spawn some discussion, so lets move it to it's own thread.

Should the New Jumpgate(tm) come with a server wipe?

[Injustice]

I would think it's gonna be a given that there'll be a wipe of some sort. I would expect those that're active when that occurs will recieve an award though. It would be nice to be able to hang on to our bank accounts too. If not, McPlowed will be devistated.

[vorlon31]

I'm torn on the notion. Part of me does say 'yes' wipe away, but the greater part of me offers a cautious 'no'.

The thing is, Jumpgate is not like Eve etc. where being level x or rank y means your automatically going to have a distinct advantage over an opponent. So wiping the player stats wouldn't actually achieve anything from a levelling the playing field point of view. To qualify that, Algore's pilot kill count doesn't grant him any bonus over an opponent in battle that wouldn't still exist if his stats were wiped clean.

Also, for some players the main thrust of their gameplay has been to achieve the triple Opti, now after a wipe all of that effort would be for naught. Also, if all was to be wiped, then what is the incentive to continue to log in now? Its like when you know jossh has fallen over and there is going to be a server roll back, yes some people will stay on and play regardless but others log off because their efforts wont count towards whatever goal they were working for anyway.

I guess I don't think there would be any real benefit to wiping the stats, other than just to topple the leader boards top seater's for the hell of it.

Introducing new stats, weekly/monthy/yearly plus over-all leader boards would be good and more useful than deleting everything.

[Injustice]

Well, if the game is going to be billed as just Jumpgate: Episode II "Attack of the Conflux", then a wipe isn't necessary. If we're looking at a "new" Jumpgate, then IMO it should start with a clean slate.

[Jump]

If they carry everything over then I probably won't be interested in playing. If they are going to revamp the game and attract new players then those players are going to need to feel like they have equal chances against people that played the OLD game. To totally remake this game and let everyone keep their status would be just silly.

I say let those who played the first game keep their beta medals and re-sign up clean. Plus, they don't have to worry so much about converting data to a new database structure.

[sentinels]

i'm w/ jump on this one. i've been asking for a wipe since before Ep2 was released, but i think we need to wipe the slate clean now if we want higher 'new' player retention.

[Jump]

Plus it makes no sense to ask them to fix the economy in the new game then to come rolling in with a trillion credits. That would be absurd to the new player coming in and it is absurd.

The most fun I had was getting my first million.



Everyone has been asking for years for increased player numbers to make the game fun again. Well you know what? Your not going to get that without sacrifice.

[Tim]

For me, the reset is more about economy than stat-whoring. Granted, anybody who ever joined mack had a bit of a stat whore side, and i'm no exception.


But, end of the day, all the economy changes in the world mean diddly when the old stuff is still laying around.

And i certainly understand the 'i lost my stuff' issue... if they ever make jumpgate work with Vista, i'll reactivate an account with a decked out 8-unit POS, plus a ton of credits. Up around 4 billion, if i recall correctly. Plus all sorts of medals, yadda yadda yadda. So i'm not just talking out of my buttocks here.

Thing is, none of that stuff means anything if the game still pulls in a whopping 18 folks.

The argument has been made that folks won't log in if they loose all their medals. I think, however, that folks will log in so that they can go _get_ those medals.

How many times have we heard the complaint "there is nothing left to do!"? Well, here's the fix.

Or the other very-popular issue: death doesn't mean anything. Well, take away those huge bankrolls and massive private stocks of equipment, and now it does again.

[Ambrosius]

Originally Posted by Jump

If they are going to revamp the game and attract new players then those players are going to need to feel like they have equal chances against people that played the OLD game.

While I selfishly would love to keep the product of six stratight years of Jumpgate, there's no way it's a good business idea. Jump hit the nail on the head.

The only thing I would suggest is a reservation on your callsign for a short period of time.

[xerout]

I completely agree with Jump on this and I'm an old time player that liked having farming money. A single player or small group of players that are so rich they can literally destroy the economies of all 3 factions if they choose to just ain't right. As a PvPer I always tended to think we warriors were the power in the game.....until I saw FRG bring the entire Quantar faction to it's knees in less than a week using economic warfare (I'm not judging...just observing). A clean slate for everyone maybe with some long time medals remaining for the vets would be a good move.

Xerout

[Ambrosius]

Hmmm ... as I recall FRG tried to bring Quant to its knees by shutting down Gator production, but just ended up getting themselves shot so much that they all quit.

I was kind of disappointed. I liked the concept of econ war, but FRG -- who was better positioned than anyone to do this -- folded as soon as the Lion struck back. I still spam their website with DsD to try to lure them back.

[vorlon31]

I'm sure there's a lot of characters who wouldn't be in game after a wipe. The idea of a wipe seems to be about punishing the faithful to win back the wayward again. As for current player stats being a negative for future player numbers.. I cant see that.

An attractive point of Jumpgate is its persistent universe nature, a wipe goes against that.