Sharded or Single Shard

[dibchib]

as a 5 year veteren of EVE online i know that the Single enviroment for all players to interact is the way to go...sure as the game grows cryptic will have to make sure their server technology stays at the top of the range

but the potential for player driven economy is far superior than that of splitting your players across multiple shards

with EVE bringing in "Ambulation" which is where you will be able to walk around inside stations and giving it the potential to bring in PVE/PVP to the character level this essentially making EVE much more similar to the game cryptic is planning on bringing us with STO

i hope you guys at cryptic are not putting your hopes on the brand name itself, hoping many people will just start playing because its Star Trek, in the same way SONY did with SWG

i personally dont want to be playing another game with a different Skin, i want to play something new :D


so anyways, put up some support for a single server star trek universe

[JemarqueMarquis]

You forgot to post your experience playing Ultima Online since they are the only ones that use the term "Shard". 1 big server maybe good, or multiple servers maybe good, it depends on how large and indepth the world is. CoX is not good for 1 big server because the world is not large enough to cram everyone in 1 world

[Aogos]

I suppose it greatly depends on the anticipated number of subs. 30,000 players on EVE at one time seems to work but I would hope this franchise is going to attract much much bigger numbers :D

[Kinjiru]

From the FAQ:
http://www.startrekonline.com/faq


Will there be PvP, PvE and RP rule set servers?
There will not be separate servers. Open PvP will be restricted to designated sectors of space (far-off reaches of unclaimed territory). Consensual PvP and competitive PvE will occur between the realm borders (the Neutral Zone), where players will be competing over territory and resources with the option to PvP.

Sounds like a single server to moi. :)

[R4mp4ge]

yeah I have to agree, the only thing I could see holding this back is creating enough content, there will need to be a whopping big load of systems planets and civilizations if they go the single shard rout, even more than eve currently has because they'll need to include starship interiors, and planetary surfaces as well as space locals, and the space locals they've already shown are way more complicated than the stuff we eve vet's are used to.

I think if they can manage a good engine for procedurally generated contend this could be workable though.

[vanlore]

/sign I vote for a single server as well. makes it more interesting and fun i think.

[11710]

From the FAQ:
http://www.startrekonline.com/faq



Sounds like a single server to moi. :)

I came to think that as well from reading the faq.

[Warspawn]

The CCP guys have said their universe could easily be expanded to host a virtually unlimited number of customers. I swear what they have seems huge to me, lol! Especially when you're out in low sec space trying to find asteroids to mine. If you added in planetary surfaces to explore, well...just wow. Huge areas.

I hope they go with one big server, and make the initial alpha quadrant huge enough that people won't just zip thru exploration the first month.

Every game I've been in there's eventually a cry to merge servers, or they have to put up a service to move characters wanting that. Well, every game but the one with one huge server, EvE. Also, it's easier to recognize arsehats and keep them on your ignore. When characters come and go via server transfers, it's easy to wreck your reputation on one server then get moved to new territory to do it to a whole new group of victims.

With one server we'll definately need some sort of destruction of ship parts or personnal equipment; I hate bind on equip as a solution to keep the economy hungry for stuff; I'd rather go a more realistic route requiring refit of shield, weapon or propulsion components after a fight. Phaser and disruptor fire should destroy things...

[dibchib]

heh i missed that part and i just read it....


anyways i never played ultima much the terminology just stuck with me

but the world record for users in a single enviroment gets beaten everytime EVE is patched i think the STO universe is more than big enough to fit 30k + players in it ...especially with expansions you could bring in new areas of space, become a tellerite freighter captain or a ferengi arms dealer

i understand in the early days were all gonna be either on the klingon side or the federation side, but 5 years after the games launched i might be tired of trying to defeat evil and want to explore other potential aspects of the ST universe that have never been covered as main characters or plots in either TV or book

[jdfimage]

I suppose it greatly depends on the anticipated number of subs. 30,000 players on EVE at one time seems to work but I would hope this franchise is going to attract much much bigger numbers :D

___

I've always supported the 1 server world, but I agree with your hopes that this game will have a much larger fan base logging in everyday. I honestly think it's success will rival WoW in number of player accounts. That being said... maybe a multi-shard system is best.... I just don't know. I'm not up on the tech. I'm only a mere artist lol. I get paid to color not worry about networks lol. :D

[Kinjiru]

i understand in the early days were all gonna be either on the klingon side or the federation side, but 5 years after the games launched i might be tired of trying to defeat evil and want to explore other potential aspects of the ST universe that have never been covered as main characters or plots in either TV or book

I intend to find Caprica. :D

[Deyvid]

From the FAQ:
http://www.startrekonline.com/faq

Will there be PvP, PvE and RP rule set servers?
There will not be separate servers. Open PvP will be restricted to designated sectors of space (far-off reaches of unclaimed territory). Consensual PvP and competitive PvE will occur between the realm borders (the Neutral Zone), where players will be competing over territory and resources with the option to PvP.

Sounds like a single server to moi. :)

This could also just mean that there will not be separate servers for RP, PvP, PvE, but still separate servers.

Lord of the Rings Online has separate servers, but there are not specially designated "RP Servers" or "PVP Servers". RP is incorporated into the game, so essentially all servers support RP. PvP is only in a specially designated PVP-zone: the Ettenmoors, where the Free Peoples of Middle-earth (freeps) battle the evil forces of Sauron (Monster-Players a.k.a. creeps). Players can spar (duel) anywhere in the world (just outside of major towns to cut down on city lag).

This is what came to mind when I read that part of the FAQ: separate servers possible, but no special RP servers or PvP servers.

[dibchib]

I intend to find Caprica. :D
LOL as long as theres some hot cylons there i'll be right behind :D

[Hero2Zero]

Technologically there is no reason the game engine couldn't be "seperate servers" and "one huge world" at the same time. Consider this: You are in the Sol system and someone else is in the Vulcan system. Can you see each other? No. Can you communicate? Yes. Are you on the same server? Who knows or cares? It could be that one sever serves each system of interest or a new instance is spawned for that system when a player goes there or even multiple systems per server. In the end as long as the players can communicate they are, for all intents and purposes, in the same server/universe.

[yardbird]

This could also just mean that there will not be separate servers for RP, PvP, PvE, but still separate servers.This is what came to mind when I read that part of the FAQ: separate servers possible, but no special RP servers or PvP servers.

Same here.

I'm not harcore against the single server idea, but would prefer a moderate number of servers with as few server instances as possible. I feel that arrangement's slightly better for the community.

[dibchib]

Technologically there is no reason the game engine couldn't be "seperate servers" and "one huge world" at the same time. Consider this: You are in the Sol system and someone else is in the Vulcan system. Can you see each other? No. Can you communicate? Yes. Are you on the same server? Who knows or cares? It could be that one sever serves each system of interest or a new instance is spawned for that system when a player goes there or even multiple systems per server. In the end as long as the players can communicate they are, for all intents and purposes, in the same server/universe.
i think you misunderstand the concept, eve has many servers hosting its universe but they are all linked allowing you to move through a consistent universe that all players are a part of, so maybe yes vulcan will be on one server earth on another, but i want to be able to fly from earth to vulcan, beam down and come find you and anyother player who is playing STO, not the way which WOW works where i have a character on one server or "shard" that is unable to play with you who may use a different server or shard

[Kirky]

I'm thinking a single huge server is the better way to go about it, it's always been one of my favourite features in EvE

[Kinneas]

I believe Mr. Emmert answers that question in our interviews.

Shardless.