"Private" gear farming servers are now a thing

[Katana67 2907]

yes. fixed server characters as a server option would fix numerous douche moves. such as ghosting (switching servers to move behind a player then logging back in to flank them), server hop loot farming and also combat logging, since they couldnt log back in until the player left. that may take a bit, depending how pissed the other player is about it. i know some people who would stick around waiting for them for hours.

 

theres gotta be a better term for it than "fixed-server characters"... maybe uhhh... "locals only" - no out of towners/server hoppers ?

 

I more meant get rid of persistent characters entirely, rather than leaving it up to the individual server administration (which would have the same effect as private hives). Which is my preferred approach, but some of the mitigating compromises (i.e. loot wipes and/or position resets upon server swapping) are probably the best bet. I do recognize that folks need to be able to swap servers (in the current paradigm, which should be moved to a more MMO-esque type server/player displacement) for various reasons such as server inactivity, outdated game versions, bugs, etc. However, the former two would be mitigated as well by a strong sense of server-specific communities and/or loyalty. Coupled with a more streamlined method of automatic version updates.

 

Server hopping to gain tactical advantage or combat log is a big deal. But not nearly as big a deal as the detrimental effects it can have on looting, which in turn completely undermine any potential storage, vehicle, and/or construction mechanic planned later on.

 

Fixed-server character, or non-persistent characters works for me. No need to dumb it down.