Dasaria II - A NWN2 Roleplay and Story-driven Persistent World

I also wonder why the MOTB experient (running an MOTB server while the module was still NWN) was stopped.

it wouldn't be fair to let some players have access to more stuff

Perhaps the smart thing to do is really not to go Motb. Indeed, Motb is a risky bet... but Dasaria in its current state isn't attracting new folks and forever hoping old players to return would be silly. If worth anything, I believe Motb will increase the enjoyment of the few but still active members of our community.

If Dasaria2 upgrades to MoTB and retains the 20 level cap I will be back as a regular player.

I am downloading the necessary files to my new computer now in anticipation.

I personally believe that the lack of MoTB is the biggest factor in preventing new players from joining.

I agree that switching to MotB is a risky thing to do. I personally believe that right now, there is a balance between players beeing attracted by the fact don't run MotB, and players beeing turned away by it. So we might keep everything the way it is and it might turn out fine ... for now. The problem is, that the number of MotB-owners will grow, the number of people who don't own it will (probably) not. This developement will rapidly accelerate, once they start selling NWN2 and MotB in one package. At this point, new players will be looking for PW's that use both. At least that's my experience from NWN days. I got the copy of NWN in one package with both expansions, and when i was looking for a PW, it -had- to use both, or else I wouldn't even consider playing there.
My opinion is, that Dasaria will have to switch to MotB at one point in order to still be atrracting new player and getting back old players. Switching now may be a risky thing, but waiting too long might turn out even worse for Dasaria.

Just my 2 cents

Edit: Just thought I'd mention it, I'm one of the few that don't have MotB yet

I'd like to see the question changed. At the moment I think Dasaria could do without MotB, however in the future it may be a good idea to update.

Rob wrote:Dasaria's server population is going to suffer if we require MotB to play here.

I suggest we refrain from comments like this until somebody actually finds some hard figures that indicate one way or the other.

Right out of the shoot Dasaria is going to loose players who are not able or unwilling to upgrade. Who knows how many people that will be? If this poll is an indicator, that could be as much as 20% of the player base.

Most people who have voted 'No' have either stated that they already have MoTB, or that they would buy it if Dasaria upgraded. Also, some people have said they would come back if Dasaria did upgrade.

Dasaria will have a smaller base from which to attract new players. The number of people who own MotB is always going to be small than the number who do not. I've personally recommended Dasaria to several people looking for a server which does not require MotB. Dasaria seems to be one of the few servers filling that niche.

'Filling a niche' only works when the niche is quite large and nobody else is doing it already. This niche appears to be quite small, and just from reading the posts, it's apparent there are quite a few other servers who can also offer MoTB-free gameplay. I can't see that we will gain a significant number of players for this reason.

We also have a few disgruntled players who are waiting on Obsidian to fix the transition crashing problem before returning to Dasaria. Will they be willing to give more money to a company that has left them hanging for 1.5 years?

I'm not going to start on this Obsidian-bashing thing again, but as I pointed out before, we also have a few old players who are waiting for us to implement MoTB before they come back.

I foresee us losing new players, current players, and old players if we require MotB. Let's hope there's a lot of MotB users waiting for Dasaria to upgrade before they play here to fill that void and give Dasaria the population bump it needs.

From the extremely sketchy 'evidence' we have found, it's impossible to determine whether MoTB would work to our benefit or detriment. I think for a lot of people, their opinion is biased by the fact they are still bitter at Obsidian about the transition crashes and bugs.

It's also pointless trying to say MoTB is good/bad based on the fact that 'the most/least populated servers run it'. There are so many different variables in that data, that it's impossible to get any kind of useful information from it. Maybe the least popular ones just suck, and the most popular ones are really good?

I still don't think upgrading to MoTB is going to do us much harm. At worst we are going to lose a couple of old players, and MAYBE one or two new players won't join Dasaria if we upgrade. But it's also likely to bring a few old players back (such as oaknott), and I really do think it will increase the number of new players that try us out. At worst, upgrading to MoTB won't have much of an impact, but I really can't see it killing the server. And there's a chance it might help. Upgrading to MoTB means keeping up with the competition. If we don't upgrade, Dasaria is just going to become more and more out of date.

However, I don't think the server should upgrade solely on the basis of people's opinions (mine or anyone elses), especially when there is a clear divide on the subject. What we really need is some kind of figures that can actually tell us something, then we can do some proper analysis instead of just throwing out all this conjecture. I suppose a good start would be if we could find any data that suggests roughly what percentage of NWN2 players actually have MoTB.

In the meantime, I suppose we should hold off on it for now, and maybe think about other ways we could improve the number of players logging into Das...

I keep hearing "give some hard figures" for those of us against upgrading.

How about some hard figures that would prove that upgrading WOULD bring back players?

I don't think upgrading will solve anything really.

I think the real question we need to ask, is why are players leaving? Is it because of MOTB, content, etc?

I don't know the answer, and I don't think anyone does - that's the problem.

K

The simplest answer Vahne, is that without DM's about, Dasaria has nothing to offer players.
And without other players about, theirs nothing to stimulate RP and nothing to make people stick about, unless they have some strange desire to level chars on a server that does its level best to slow that down.

Zephis wrote:The simplest answer Vahne, is that without DM's about, Dasaria has nothing to offer players.
And without other players about, theirs nothing to stimulate RP and nothing to make people stick about, unless they have some strange desire to level chars on a server that does its level best to slow that down.

I've seen almost daily presence of the DM's IG in these last weeks, mostly in times when the player range were over the casual number and when there were enough gathered in one area. (though I'm not sure if that last one mention did play a role)

There are few possibilites of why players would gave up on Dasaria; there are many in NwN2's case though, from its first impression as well to the other fun-ready quality, rival games waiting a few clicks away.

I'm not sure if I qualify as an "old player" like oaknott, but would come back if Das upgraded to MoTB. I'm not sure I count as a "hard figure" either, but I would add 1 to the the player base at that point.

Zephis wrote:The simplest answer Vahne, is that without DM's about, Dasaria has nothing to offer players.
And without other players about, theirs nothing to stimulate RP and nothing to make people stick about, unless they have some strange desire to level chars on a server that does its level best to slow that down.

Dungeon Masters do not break, nor make a server. It is from the community, I believe, where the real magic happens. Having a good number of active DMs is great, sure, but I would argue that a strong player population is just as important, if not moreso.

There were periods in Das1, and even Das2, where the community thrived (with 15-20+ players logged on during primetime) with a significant absence of DMs for an extended period. There were dozens of different story-lines buzzing about, roleplay initiatives, some light faction work, etcetera.

For some reason, the players aren't logging in as much as before, and it isn't entirely due to lack of DM coverage (one reason is because there are quite a few DMs logging in more frequently, now than ever before).

I keep asking me why old members and others 'hard figures' continue to say with MOTB I/we would come back. RP is indiferent with or without MOB. There are some improvements? Yes there are, but the joy of play is beyond a exp pack!

Giving a so so example : just look the numbers of NWN1 servers and players! They could say, lets improve for NWN2 and so... but not. Of course there are some side things, but the main idea is that.

I have MOB already and I only plays @ Dasaria.

About the lack of current users, well I have a idea... a Opposin Faction, the bad guys! People like to play the bandit&cowboy hhehehe

Well let keep discussing it, its far for a closure!

I originally voted No in the poll. However, after playing about 8 hours at various times over the weekend, I'd be willing to do just about anything if it meant getting more players.

I think you need a more informative poll, something along these lines:

I play regularly and I would continue to play whether DAS2 adopted MoTB or not
I play regularly but I would stop playing if DAS2 adopted MoTB
I play regularly but I will stop playing if DAS2 does not adopt MoTB

I used to play regularly and I intend to return to DAS2 whether it adopts MoTB or not
I used to play regularly but I would not return to DAS2 just because it adopted MoTB
I used to play regularly and I would return to DAS2 if it adopted MoTB

I have not played DAS2 yet but I intend to play regardless of whether DAS 2 adopts MoTB or not
I have not played DAS2 yet but I intend to play so long as DAS 2 does not adopt MoTB
I have not played DAS2 yet but I intend to play so long as DAS 2 does adopt MoTB

In the existing poll so far 25% of the existing players don't want MoTB. Whilst that is a minority, it is a lot of players to lose if they all go away. Frankly, players who have stuck with DAS2 should have more priority than those who have gone elsewhere (myself included) or new players. Loyalty should count for something. Although I would like to see DAS2 adopt MoTB, I would suggest that you would need to gain, at the very least, three returners or new players for every one old player that you would lose.

[edit] I realise that this may not be possible as one poll, which is why I have divided my questions into the groups so you could have three polls, one for regular players, one for lapsed players and one for potential players.

You can have up to 10 options when you list polls, so it should be possible to do all nine of those.

K