Posted By: Sanya Thomas 2004-04-14 11:34:06
With this morning's patch, we have removed /level 30 from most servers and realms. The exceptions are Lancelot/Hibernia and Lancelot/Midgard, and we hope to phase the command out in those two realms as soon as possible. While /level 30 was a boon to players already established on an underpopulated realm, our experience has demonstrated that it did not provide enough long term incentive for a player to permanently move to an underpopulated realm.
We're not saying that we're done worrying about this issue by any means, only that we've concluded that /level 30 as we had it implemented wasn't the solution. One thing we will do in the meantime, as we consider all of the possible future options and solutions, is install a "New User Redirect" system.
Right now, with our various free trials and numerous Camelot products in the retail chain, we are experiencing a *strong* influx of players entirely new to the game. In version 1.69, every user with a new installation of Camelot will be greeted by a pop up window with our suggested server and realm to play on. Via this pop up box, we will encourage truly new users to go to our underpopulated realms to play. If a new player does not wish to go to our suggested server, they have that option - they will simply be taken to the server select screen, like everyone else. Even if only a very small percentage of our new players each week take the suggestion, it will result in long term population increases for the target servers. Once people are established, they don't often move. (This was one of the many reasons /level 30 wasn't entirely successful - the newcomers would play for awhile, and go back "home.")
Since this plan to direct our new users to a specific server will be visible only to brand new players (ALL brand new players, as opposed to /level 30, which was generally only known to Herald readers), we do not plan to make regular Herald announcements when the target server changes.
Please note that the /level 20 command is still a feature of the game on all servers, as a reward to our players that have reached level fifty and no longer want or need to experience the "newbie" levels of the game.
As always, we will continue to monitor the population and RVR data from the servers, and make adjustments as needed. And watch this space for future plans!
:cool:
