What are you looking for in a server?

[Darkscis]

Originally Posted by ChaosSlayerZ

Formulate your vision, your system and your methods - and stick to it. Yes there is always room for adjustment and improvement, but don't turn the ship 180 degree around because 1 guy doesn't like it.

100% this. This is what killed off Elysium. We were trying to accomodate/change/re-code to satisfy every single complaining voice on the forums instead of staying true to exactly how we envisioned the server going. This left us with half finished/unpolished content, things all over the place and a general lack of focus going forward. We also ended up working on content that we ourselves had no interest in doing, which means as Dev's we lost motivation because it wasn't fun for *US*.

Now I digress because this has ventured off topic a bit, sorry about that!

What I personally look for in a server: Basically what I originally said. As an aging player with commitments and time constraints I look for a server that allows me to progress at my own pace. I don't like to group up not because I am anti-social but because I don't like the feeling I get when I have to let a group down by suddenly having to log off. This means I really only even look at servers that are flagged as "solo". I don't think that players should be "punished" because of this play style though - so my ideal server would be one that you can progress and achieve everything 100% solo if that is your desire. Make it take 10x as long if you don't group, or have alternate methods for group/solo or whatever - just as long as I can achieve everything someone who groups can **EVENTUALLY** I am happy. I don't expect handouts, I don't expect it to be easy to solo but I don't like it when I am forced to group (for example, via script mechanics, min raid requirements - that kind of thing).

So an example of this is what we tried to achieve on Elysium. We had 2 factions in our custom content; Vampire Hunters and Vampires. If you worked for the Vampire Hunters you could "raid" (group content) Dreadspire Keep and loot your drops as normal after defeating the encounters. For those that didn't want to group, you could work for the Vampires instead. This was our "solo" version of content. You essentially did a quest for each of those same bosses in Dreadspire Keep and earnt their drops through that, rather than killing them. All players ended up with the same gear, but the solo players had to work a little longer at it by first doing faction work to become Ally and then by actually completing the quest. The raiders were able to go in, learn the encounters and get their loot the normal way.