Guilt by association is a fantastic way to build your brand.
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Tag: Wipe
Salem Resetting Characters and Merging Servers
Hang on to your britches, pilgrims. We haven’t heard from Salem in quite a while, so today’s news probably isn’t all that surprising. In order to consolidate players and implement a new map generation system, the folks at Seatribe have announced the game will be wiped and restarted under a new server.
- The current server architecture is overestablished compared to our actual needs. Long term it is not feasible for us to keep running multiple servers dropping to as low as single digit populations during off-hours. A reset allows us to concentrate population to one, cardinal server, which appears more in line with the game’s actual needs.
Several players have welcomed the upcoming wipe, noting that a power disparity has allowed a select few to essentially take over servers and kill anyone who might present a threat or progress in any meaningful way. Earlier last year, Paradox Interactive cut involvement with Salem, returning full development back to Seatribe.
(Source: Salem)
Darkfall: Unholy Wars Releases Details, Wipe Confirmed
Darkfall: Unholy Wars launches at the end of November, and Aventurine is letting the details flow free. In a post on the official website, Tasos Flambouras starts off with the question many have been asking ever since Unholy Wars was still Darkfall 2010: Wipes. Short story, they are coming. Darkfall and Unholy Wars are two separate games, which presents the problem of compatibility between the two systems.
Assuming we forced things and made it possible, the DFUW characters would completely destroy the Darkfall Online characters, and I make this comparison to also give you a practical idea of the incompatibility.
Luckily, players won’t have to worry about the grind. According to the blog, players will have no problem becoming viable. Also, Darkfall Online (the current edition) will be shut down to make room for Unholy Wars. Anyone who already bought Darkfall will not have to purchase Unholy Wars. There are plans for Darkfall-related side projects, and characters from the current game are being kept for such a purpose.
(Source: Unholy Wars Website)
Ryzom Backs Up On Character Wipes, For Subscribers
It appears that wiping your game eight years after release may not be as popular as Ryzom’s developers anticipated. Following the announcement that Ryzom would be merging down to one server, wiping all characters in the process, community response has resulted in those plans being nixed partially. As long as a player is subscribed at the time of the servers going down, they will not be wiped.
All subscribed accounts on the day of closing of the current servers will keep the appearance, the name but also the levels and skill bricks of all characters that are on the account.
Additionally, the server merge has been pushed back to September 29th.
(Source: Ryzom Website)
Would You Continue Playing If Your Characters Were Wiped?
I love perma-death in games. For instance, in Minecraft I always play on Hardcore Mode. I do so knowing that I could make a few weeks or even months of progress in the game, only to die because a spider killed me or I was poisoned or surprised and fell to my death. But I have more of an appreciation for the game’s atmosphere and cautious nature, as death is no longer simply a setback.
This article has nothing to do with perma-death. Rather, I want to talk about losing your character in a situation where you did not foresee losing it, but still have access to the game. I recently had to reformat my hard drive, and I had no opportunity to backup my saves for Mass Effect, Eschalon, and other games where my saves are not saved online. Since then I’ve found a gap in enthusiasm has left me unable to play Mass Effect to the point I was at before the crash.
I had this problem with games like ArchLord, Earth Eternal, and Hellgate, where even though I couldn’t wait for the new host to take over, once the game relaunched and I set up my account I found myself unable to force my way through the same progress I had made initially.
And those games were just available for a year or so. If RuneScape, for example, one day told me that my character of nine years would be wiped, the decision would be simple. While the grind wouldn’t be nearly as bad, the time invested in my character would be so enormous that anything short of the game’s death would not justify losing that time. And a lot of people would return simply out of brand loyalty, or to start “on even ground,” as they tell me. I cant count myself as part of the flock.
After eight years, Ryzom is shutting down two of its three servers, and instead of merging characters has decided to wipe all accounts. I always look at late-age wipes as a high stakes game of Phoenix. The baby that is birthed from the flames might go on to live a full life. On the other hand, as history has shown us with a certain MMO whose community would strangle me, it is often a last gasp before death.
Hopefully Ryzom will see its community loyal enough to not only return but grow in its new life.
Darkfall: Projecting Dave Georgeson On Wipes
A rather humorous poster once said “My rule on wiping in-game is the same as in real life. If someone else does it for me, I feel violated.” The month of August starts in 16 days, and in that month we are expected to receive more information regarding Darkfall 2.0, aka Darkfall 2010. To those of you keeping tabs, what started as a promotion for an update so altering it had to be considered a relaunch has devolved into Aventurine’s initial mention, and refusal to confirm or deny, the possibility of a full character wipe. In the latest Epic Blog, Tasos Flambouras states the following:
Wipe speculation: We addressed this, to the extent of our knowledge of the topic, during our last activity report when it was brought up by some members of the community in relation to Darkfall’s relaunch. This is not an issue for the present, but you wouldn’t know it looking at our forums. Furthermore the speculation and discussion about the possibility of a wipe is based on the current Darkfall status and facts. We haven’t wiped the server and we wouldn’t do it as things are now, so discussing this is pointless.
We’ll ask you to be patient a little longer until we give you all the facts on “Darkfall 2.0″ and we can have a discussion on a great number of topics, including this one.
Apparently Tasos has taken his PR spin lessons at the same school as Dave Georgeson, who you’ll remember stated that he wasn’t lying when he said Everquest II players wouldn’t be subject to free to play, by launching Everquest II Extended and calling it a completely separate product. Take a look at the comment in bold in the above statement. Thrown into the PR machine with the lever switched to reverse, you come out with “Darkfall 1.0 (the current version) has not and will not be wiped.”
Tasos, the community isn’t asking if Darkfall 1.0 will be wiped. They are asking if Darkfall 2.0 will bring a character wipe, a topic you brought up and have been juggling since. If Aventurine hadn’t mentioned a character wipe in the first place, we wouldn’t be having this discussion right now. It’s like serving someone a sandwich and making an off-hand remark about hoping the turkey didn’t land in the toilet, then wondering why the person is so concerned all of a sudden and asking questions related to your comment.
Aventurine’s position so far can be summed up as “we’re not saying there will be a wipe with Darkfall 2.0, but if there is the process of getting back to where you were has been hastened to the point where it isn’t a big deal anyway.” Don’t expect any more details on this topic soon, as forum moderator Teucrus has reminded us:
Well until you have been given all the info on DF 2.0 there will be nothing new on the topic. You knew this since last week.
Those concerned will vote yes on a wipe, because if Aventurine had already set their minds on no, they could easily quell the theories by just coming out and saying no. Two letters, very simple. So it’s reasonable to conclude that Aventurine either has not come to a conclusion, or they have and are simply holding out on saying “yes” until the last minute. Not giving an answer has a potentially toxic effect on the community and can cost them in disgruntled subscribers. Saying yes now is certainly a toxic move that guaranteed will not only cost them in disgruntled subscribers, but potential customers.
“This is a topic we’ll open up for discussion after we’ve given you more information on the new version of the game, so you can understand all the parameters involved.”
On the other hand, you can all line up for your $20. Tasos has confirmed that Darkfall is NOT going Free To Play.
We also read around the Internet about Darkfall going free-to-play: Rumor has it that if you start a sentence with “rumor has it…” you can say pretty much anything you want. Not true.
MMO Fallout 