Speculation about "coming" loot system(s)?

[Katana67 2907]

In "short", with this kind of loot system there will be no server hopping in the meaning of the word as its now.

 

I don't think so, I've often seen this floated as a solution to server-hopping as we know it today.

 

It really isn't. For one, they've said that the "loot management system" will manage specific high-end loot. Not necessarily every single piece of loot in the game. So, for the rest of the respawning loot... server hopping will still be as viable as it is today as a method of gearing (unless the bar is set insanely low as to what loot should be regulated).

 

So long as there are fixed advantageous loot spawns (i.e. barracks, jails, military tents, etc.) server hopping will be advantageous if left unmitigated in and of itself.

 

That and there's more to server hopping than just easier access to loot. Being able to get loot from one server, and shuffle it off to a low-population and/or empty server on the same hive is insanely detrimental to the entire concept of the "loot management system" encouraging cross-server mobility for the sake of community building. To say nothing of the imbalance inherent in being able to hoard potentially high-end loot on an empty server, away from the significantly increased risk of high population servers.

 

Finally, there's also more to server hopping than just loot. So no matter what you do to the loot system itself (i.e. make it respawning, make it fixed on the hive, etc.) unmitigated server hopping will always contribute to unfair "ghosting" to gain a tactical advantage on an opponent by swapping servers, moving to a better position, then swapping back.

 

Server hopping, like duping, is one of the few issues in DayZ which requires a direct solution. Rather than an ambient and subtle one (i.e. player spawns).

Edited August 21, 2014 by Katana67

[scriptfactory 620]

Without server hopping for loot and the public/private shard system this game isn't very fun. The ability to hop to a high-population server with a hive persistent character keeps my interest piqued. I sometimes play on a SA private hive server that usually has a server pop of 5-10. It is horribly boring running around with a fully geared character and no one to shoot.

Edited August 21, 2014 by scriptfactory

[thag 10]

I totally disagree with this Centralised loot idea, because EVERY SINGLE PLAYER IN DAYZ SHOULD HAVE THE SAME CHANCE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE TO FIND SOME ITEMS IN THE GAME!!

 

Dayzmod in early days was perfect before their ruin spawn points..from patch 1.7.7.

Edited October 12, 2014 by thag

[harteman 155]

I totally disagree with this Centralised loot idea, because EVERY SINGLE PLAYER IN DAYZ SHOULD HAVE THE SAME CHANCE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE TO FIND SOME ITEMS IN THE GAME!!

Describe to me how two given players, one who will find, say, NVGs, and one who will not, don't start out with even odds of finding the NVGs?  Seems like same chance to me.

[harteman 155]

I don't think so, I've often seen this floated as a solution to server-hopping as we know it today.

 

It really isn't. For one, they've said that the "loot management system" will manage specific high-end loot. Not necessarily every single piece of loot in the game. So, for the rest of the respawning loot... server hopping will still be as viable as it is today as a method of gearing (unless the bar is set insanely low as to what loot should be regulated).

 

So long as there are fixed advantageous loot spawns (i.e. barracks, jails, military tents, etc.) server hopping will be advantageous if left unmitigated in and of itself.

 

That and there's more to server hopping than just easier access to loot. Being able to get loot from one server, and shuffle it off to a low-population and/or empty server on the same hive is insanely detrimental to the entire concept of the "loot management system" encouraging cross-server mobility for the sake of community building. To say nothing of the imbalance inherent in being able to hoard potentially high-end loot on an empty server, away from the significantly increased risk of high population servers.

 

Finally, there's also more to server hopping than just loot. So no matter what you do to the loot system itself (i.e. make it respawning, make it fixed on the hive, etc.) unmitigated server hopping will always contribute to unfair "ghosting" to gain a tactical advantage on an opponent by swapping servers, moving to a better position, then swapping back.

 

Server hopping, like duping, is one of the few issues in DayZ which requires a direct solution. Rather than an ambient and subtle one (i.e. player spawns).

I thought private shards were the solution?

[gibonez 3633]

Centralised loot means people may actually trade for specific gear.

 

Or epic base raids.

 

Also means dupers will be caught easily because presumably, every item will have a unique ID.

 

Bingo.

 

It will also hopefully mean every piece of loot is controlled and things like military clothing, military rifles and explosives and most importantly optics are all heavily restricted using the central hive.

 

This in turn creates a better atmosphere but more importantly it puts a super high value on the restricted items by actually making them rare something impossible without the devs controlling how many of each item spawn.

 

Imo this is probably the single best thing about stand alone vs the mod as the devs being able to tweak , control and monitor items would have great gameplay implications.

[Katana67 2907]

I thought private shards were the solution?

 

They're a potential solution to server hopping. One of many, none without potential problem areas.

[Accolyte 1727]

They're a potential solution to server hopping. One of many, none without potential problem areas.

 

Can you describe a scenario where server hopping would accomplish anything on a server running on its own shard?

[Calvin Candie 189]

I think this system will not work.

For example, you will have part of a helicopter that is nearly impossible to find.

So you find it, assemble the helicopter and then crash it after 1 minute of flying because it is your first time flying. When will be the next time? In 2 years if you are lucky to find that part again. Too frustrating, it is a game after all.

I am not saying fill each server with loot but make all items spawn on each server, even with 0.5% probability. Thus making it possible for those willing to spend time searching and yet rare enough not to loose value.

[pilgrim* 3514]

Tought to try my luck with this thread as I missed the last bit from the littlebit misleading "Dean Hall engourages server hopping" etc thread that got locked. So if this is left to be, dont derail or flame, but discuss.

Centralized loot system...

Most likely means something where loot tables are located at HIVE level, hive distributes loot to certain servers to be spawned at. So we get several levels or management in this system.

IE NVGs, total number of spawning permissions from the HIVE is 2. HIVE grants rights to spawn 1 NGV at server 1 and 5, total number of servers in the group is 5. Now server 1 and 5 have 0.1% change of spawning NVGs while servers 2-4 has 0% change of spawning NVG.

Also when these 2 NVGs are spawned there is no more spawning, so you need to find person possessing them or where they are stored.

So hive points what and how much loot is granted to servers, servers determine the change of spawning that loot.

I understand the immersion breaking point people brought up, when one server doesnt have all the items. This means you cant just stick to one server and play on that, but to explore several servers to get said items...//...

Did I miss something? Im sure I did, point it out!

 

You got it about right as far as I can see . I'm in favor of this system. But just a couple of points. If you think about the whole "rarity" argument that has been going on for ages (specially about 'heavy guns', it's clearer):

 

you say

<<IE NVGs, total number of spawning permissions from the HIVE is 2. HIVE grants rights to spawn 1 NGV at server 1 and 5, total number of servers in the group is 5. Now server 1 and 5 have 0.1% change of spawning NVGs while servers 2-4 has 0% change of spawning NVG.>>

 

This is the wrong way round - in fact... If you have 5 servers, the central hive says "we are going to have 2 NVGs".. so 2 NVGs WILL definitely spawn somewhere on the 5 servers. There's no doubt and no percentage of chance about THAT, the 2 NVG WILL show up (so there's no "unfairness" in that). . So before the spawn, each server has a 40% chance of getting 1 NVG. See? For the calculation - 1 between 5 is 20% and 2 between 5 is 40%.. got it? This would be easier to see if there were 3 objects and 6 servers, then the odds would be just 50%.. so 2 objects and 5 places means each place has a litle less than a half-and-half chance of getting one. In fact a.. 40% chance

So now the 2 NVGs are in the game. So for a while NONE will show up now at their spawn points. 

If you want to put RARE objects in the game, this is the only way to do it and stay in control.. even if you say (the system we have now)  "every server has a 0.5 chance of spawning a RARE NVG object", you could still by chance have NVGs spawning three times in a row on ONE server.. or maybe 17 NVGs spawning at one time across 50 servers...just by chance.

 

My argument about RARE items has always been "how rare are they??".. if you know the percentage chance of them spawning in the normal -present - spawn way, and you say "this is a 40 player server" and you know that plenty of players KNOW where the NVGs spawn.. and you know there is one spawn every 4 hours .. then you can work out how long it will be on average - AND it is really not long  - before everyone who wants that RARE object has got one. OR ELSE you make the RARE object so extremely rare - like a 0.00001% chance of a spawn every 4 hours on each server, that most players will not even see one for a whole year of play..Then you would have a situation where1 server HAS 1 of these RARE objects, and 1 player has got his hands on it..

 

AND of course, in that old system everyone will be "server hopping" across ALL the servers like mad to hit the "SUPER RARE" object spawn point before everyone else.

 

SO with centralised loot you KNOW exactly how many of these things ARE in the game.. you can see what kind of events, shit, excitement, happen because of that object, and you can put MORE in the game, or take some OUT (as they are destroyed, or they leave the game because the owner doesn't play any more [like the tents in the Mod] or you more quickly de-spawn them as they are dropped) 

 

People were arguing a long time about RARE and i asked ANYONE to say what they meant by rare, what percentage chance of spawn, how many spawn points, how long before one turns up on 'your' server.. but no one EVER answered..   OK, so with the central spawn system there is a central count of how many of the NVGs are out in the game, and you can adjust that as required to fit how the play goes.

 

ALSO, no point in sitting next to a known spawn point waiting for one to turn up, or server hopping like mad, if the set NUMBER of NVGs are already out in the game. Not one will show up at a spawn point on any server. You have to go find someone who HAS one.. So you need to ask around, hear what Rocket called "rumors", and for instance for heli parts.. go there and find the guy, and fight, or trade with the guy.

 

If you have a whole heli but ONE part is missing, and a dude on another server has that ONE part, its no good to him at all.. he could trade for it, he could hide it.. but it's no advantage to him to keep a part that would make a heli fly on ANOTHER server not even on his 'own' server.. yes??  He could go to that server with his part, and JOIN the TEAM.. be one of the team building that Heli.

 

So this is to do with RARITY.. and in all the previous arguments - especially about guns - NO ONE has shown HOW to make a gun RARE in the current spawn system.. they are all vague about it.. "just rare man", "just relatively rare dude", "this one really RARE" ..but NEVER saying how the HELL you make it rare, and what RARE means in MATHS TERMS, and how you control it. I think when people talk about rare, they are really thinking "Im a really cool player, I will have one but no one else will have one" That's their real idea of RARE.. We can all see how BADLY that would work.

 

So - central loot CONTROL - very good idea.; AND the numbers can be altered as the game goes along. As an example from not-rare stuff - If you find a LOT of people are dying of food poisoning, and fighting over antibiotics (it happened in the Mod) then players start leaving the game because they are fed-up of never finding antibios and  dying from damn food poisoning ALL the time, nothing to be done about it, and there are no antibiotics in any of the damn hospitals,   .. OK   then from the central system you can feed in a few more.. just up the total number that are circulating in the game.. get it to a level where people will still KILL for antibios, but they have a fighting chance of GETTING some before they croak, even if plenty still die.. then they will think its a tough game, but its worth staying in it.. they won't just leave and go back to CoD instead..

 

Theres one thing I want to say about SERVER HOPPING that is important IMO

 

I play across several servers.; but not to "hop" (as they call it) - not to look for gear.. there are plenty of those people around all the military places so I only go near them from time to time.. I'm not a gear freak.. It's more fun to find a helicrash by chance and - hey- an M4, neat... or just pick up a shotgun.. or a Longhorn, whatever.. good enough.. I enjoy all kinds of stuff, don't need "gear collecting" as a big hobby.

 

BUT the word 'SERVER HOPPER' is really - please, think about it - a RACIST term.. its an Insult and its used on purpose as an insult. This is just like racism. "You are a HOPPER" - that means you are a shit no-good worthless person, right?.. The word HOPPER means exactly that, and that's why it's used. I could quote other insulting words used about .. women.. black people..white people. foreigners... physical handicaps.. words used to insult anyone who is not the SAME as you .. but I won't quote those words because they are damn insults and disgusting words used deliberately to make someone less human than you are.. (we have some laws about that stuff, now)

So saying "hopper" is not REALLY talking about what truly happens in game or about WHY it happens, to share some helpful ideas ..it's just an insult so that you don't have to think what is really going on.

I move from one server to another.. I have 3 usual ones.; but some nights I may try out a different set of servers, or one I've never been on, just to see what it feels like there or what the players are like (and I get kicked plenty of times, even though I only go to servers with "friendly" or "public" written in the admin's DESCRIPTION)

 

So I think "server hopping" is a wrong way to talk, right from the start. It's like saying "you don't come from here, dude, this is OUR 'hood.. we don't LIKE you, we don't like what you ARE"

 

Talk about changing servers, talk about SHARING servers or EXPLORING servers...MEETING new PLAYERS..even RAIDING servers... Sure, at the moment there are a lot of people who go from one server to the next just to collect loot (but let's not call them 'gooks' ok?) . but with the new central system exactly that WONT work any more.. This is what Rocket was talking about... so any discussion about central loot that starts off "server hoppers" - is NOT about central loot, its about "this is MY server.. you are the wrong color, the wrong nationality, you come from the wrong place we don't want you on OUR server"... that"s all wrong.. I mean ... its just . wrong ... ya know ?

 

I know we've all got the habit, but as soon as you say "hoppers" you've stopped Discussing any more, you're only Insulting. And that makes you just another damn REDNECK.

 

I wanted to say that.

 

OK Zeppa - thanx.. apart from that little statistical thing in your post.. sounds like you and I have got the same idea of how GOOD this Central Loot system could be. Let's see how it goes. The time is coming to move on and get to better things, right ? It will take time, but to me it looks as though it could be good.

 

Note: I explained a "statistical" thing about private servers (shards) - and private server groups a while back, I'll put the link as soon as i find it ( http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/208359-will-private-shards-use-the-central-loot-system/?view=findpost&p=2089466 ) Point is - it all works out fair for public hive or shard hive.

Myself, I stay with the public hive because I like being part of this REALLY BIG worldwide community.. but some players have also pointed out the real good points of shard hives.. not just the usual "fuck off this is Mine" attitude.

 

xx pilgrim

Edited October 14, 2014 by pilgrim

[Katana67 2907]

Can you describe a scenario where server hopping would accomplish anything on a server running on its own shard?

 

Certainly not, because one wouldn't be able to server hop at all. I wasn't asserting that server hopping wouldn't be wholly remedied by private servers/shards. What I was asserting though, is that there might be alternative solutions which preserve (rather than totally discard) what I'll outline below. In taking this particular approach to server hopping, you're inherently marginalizing something that might not be worth throwing out entirely.

 

The potential shortcomings I was referring to have to do with the loss of a supposed persistent/coherent cross-server character dynamic. This was something that was absolutely central to DayZ as it stood in the mod, and I can recall more than one occasion of Rocket touting the "cross-server persistent character" as something to be valued in DayZ. It certainly still seems to be the case as well, with Rocket recently expressing a desire for fully endorsed cross-server loot economies with the inclusion of things like helicopter parts which are able to be transferred cross-server.

 

A part of it has to do with something that I've taken issue with for a long time - the attempt by the developers to walk the fine line between a traditional MMO-type server architecture (i.e. broad-based universe persistence) and a narrower FPS-type architecture (i.e. non-persistent, compartmentalized, and/or private servers). In my opinion, you can't really do both and still keep the strengths of both approaches intact.

 

For example, you can't really say that you're limiting in-game resources if I can just plop a persistent tent on an empty server and be able to transfer the stuff I store there to a fully-populated server with zero consequence. And if you are limiting in-game resources (i.e. the loot economy) then you have to be okay with some degree of server hopping.

 

Conversely, you can't really have a "cross-server loot economy," or even a vibrant community (I don't fully agree with this second bit, just using it as an example) if my character is only limited to interacting with one particular server/hive/shard/whatever.

 

Simply put, if everything's on a private shard, you're compartmentalizing (i.e. dividing) the community and the experience into small microcosms. Which is fine, if that approach is actually followed. But you lose some of the integrity of a broad cross-server dynamic. And it's not really enough anymore to say "We'll include both! Let the players decide!" because it results in two fundamentally distinct games being played. Which would require two different experiences to be created by the developers. A centralized cross-server hive-based loot economy can't really function as intended within one server.

 

So what needs to be done is an approach to servers needs to be selected (i.e. cross-server/public, or, fixed-server/private), and then the proposed qualities of the game need to reflect that. We can't keep having talk of a "hive-based" loot economy if we're just going to divvy up everything into private servers.

 

Or...

 

A middle ground needs to be sought which remedies so-called "illegitimate" server hopping, while keeping a space open for some form of cross-server character/item transfer.

 

DISCLAIMER - I am actually a proponent of private shards/servers/hives/whatevers. But I can see the value in being able to swap servers for legitimate reasons.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Katana67

[pilgrim* 3514]

..//..

 

DISCLAIMER - I am actually a proponent of private shards/servers/hives/whatevers. But I can see the value in being able to swap servers for legitimate reasons.

 

Good and interesting post with quite a few points that are worth thinking about.

 

DayZ is an unusual game, not really in any of the standard genres at all (IMO) and I like it that way and hope it continues in the same spirit (whatever changes take place inside it). Could claim that it's a new KIND of game. That's pretty RARE in these days of depression, mega-companies, and mass standard entertainment..

 

But saying this is NOT disagreeing with any of your points.

Very interesting. Worth reading and thinking about. Beanz.

 

xx

Edited October 13, 2014 by pilgrim

[flimsypremise 94]

I feel like ya'll aren't thinking this through. If there's inventory for an item, it will have the same chance of spawning on any server in any location where it can spawn. So it's not like the NVGs have a great chance of spawning on some servers than others. They have the same tiny odds of spawning in every valid location across every server until they're all found by players. So if you're looking for engine parts, you can just rely on the respawn mechanic on a single server if you want. The only items that you would potentially need to server hop to find would be incredibly rare items that you'll probably never find anyway.

[Finchtastic 50]

They've already reduced the map to less than half the loot it had before, how much more can they really ruin it?  It's kind of funny searching 6 apartment buildings and finding ONE can of beans and a pipsi...Only to go to the police station to find a pepper and a pen.  Then to the fire station to find a pair of gloves and some badly damaged boots...On a freshly restarted server too...Next I'll go to NWAF and maybe, JUST MAYBE, I'll find more than 3 items in the whole base...

[gibonez 3633]

They've already reduced the map to less than half the loot it had before, how much more can they really ruin it? It's kind of funny searching 6 apartment buildings and finding ONE can of beans and a pipsi...Only to go to the police station to find a pepper and a pen. Then to the fire station to find a pair of gloves and some badly damaged boots...On a freshly restarted server too...Next I'll go to NWAF and maybe, JUST MAYBE, I'll find more than 3 items in the whole base...

Everything you described is awesome.

Scarcity will be a great thing in dayz.

[Grundlesmuggler 41]

I've read most of the posts, I've done a little research.  

 

It seems like the majority of people that dislike server hopping for 3 main reasons:

 

1. They have an easier time gaining loot. 2. They aren't "server loyal". 3. They will hoard high level loot in the proposed loot system.

 

Reason 1 seems more like people think that the reason to hop servers in the future will be the same as they are now, I.E. we don't want to wait for the server restart to get loot.  Currently the only way to re spawn loot on a server is to restart it.  In the current game state, this makes sense.  But the proposed loot system assumes a much more complex game state, so you must look at server hopping in this respect as well.  

 

Reason 2 is hard.  We won't know what the devs plan, but if they want us hopping servers to interact with more people and find more items then you can't be angry at someone who "hops" to new server because the one he spent 40 hours on so far only has 3 people on it, is that his fault, the devs fault, or your fault for not playing on his server 24/7.

 

Reason 3 is like reason 1, but much more sensitive because typically gamers on the internet pride themselves on what they can achieve or what they have vs what others don't have.  So these touchy individuals get frustrated when they can't obtain something and therefore come up with responses like "This game sucks", "The loot system sucks", "Server hoppers are bad"  etc.  

 

My point is that the server hopping can be part of the game and not be a detriment.  Lets say that if you change a server, then you spawn randomly across the map.  Like you log in Svet, hoping to re-loot the town, but when you go to another server you spawn just outside Cherno.  This way server hoppers for reason 1 have to work much harder, and reason 3 hoppers also have to work harder not only searching, but protecting their hoards.  Reason 2 is a fictional dilemma.  It's impossible to assume server loyalty when people play at different times for different reasons.  You just make loot respawn reasonably without restarting the server constantly, let it run from day to night and back again, and let the community decide if they want to stay on the same server or not.  If you hop to get a rotor, and bring it back to your server.  Then someone has to come to your server to get it.  That's not ruining the integrity of either server.

 

***** The caveat for my idea about spawning is actually 2 things.  1: You wouldn't be able to log out/log in at your base since you would be spawning elsewhere.  2: This idea assumes that loot respawning is actually good enough that people would not want to hop for that reason, and thus are only hopping to fight or search for high end loot.

[gibonez 3633]

***** The caveat for my idea about spawning is actually 2 things.  1: You wouldn't be able to log out/log in at your base since you would be spawning elsewhere.  2: This idea assumes that loot respawning is actually good enough that people would not want to hop for that reason, and thus are only hopping to fight or search for high end loot.

 

None of it matters.

 

Soon as private shards and private hives are out nobody will be playing on the public servers.

[Finchtastic 50]

Everything you described is awesome.

Scarcity will be a great thing in dayz.

You might think that's awesome, but in reality, nobody wants to play a game that depends on loot, absolutely...with no loot.  I hope it doesn't get worse, right now seems to be a perfect amount.  Not too hard as freshie, not too easy either.  However, it kind of silly to spawn in below freezing weather without even a long shirt or something if loots gonna be that much harder to find.

[Chaingunfighter 917]

None of it matters.

 

Soon as private shards and private hives are out nobody will be playing on the public servers.

That's where it has to be decided on what is and what isn't allowed.

I mean, modding support is something that's constantly put forward as something the developers will do, but the actual extent of that hasn't necessarily been made clear. A lot of the "mods" for the DayZ mod made the situation significantly easier, or at least shifted the difficulty.

[Katana67 2907]

That's where it has to be decided on what is and what isn't allowed.

I mean, modding support is something that's constantly put forward as something the developers will do, but the actual extent of that hasn't necessarily been made clear. A lot of the "mods" for the DayZ mod made the situation significantly easier, or at least shifted the difficulty.

 

That and things like a "hive-based loot economy" supposedly require cross-server interaction anyhow. And, forgive me if I'm being ignorant of technical things, but what's to stop someone from just running a single server on a private hive (i.e. the case in the mod)? Wouldn't that completely remove the novelty of having a centralized loot economy?

 

Even if one were to run a 10-server hive/shard/whatever, then we'd just have what we have now... on a smaller and more intimate (i.e. noticeable) scale. And if there's only one server, then ultra-rare items (which were supposedly going to spawn on distant servers on the same hive, see Rocket's speech at Rezzed) will all be spawning on the same server, and will thereby become not as rare.

 

Which is why I think the developers really need to make up their minds, and just go all-in for a private hive/server model rather than try to play both sides of the fence. We'll lose some of the grand social features, but we'll have a much more focused and ultimately less problematic experience. This is all owed, in my opinion, to the limitations of ARMA (i.e. a FPS server compartmentalization) and the over-abundance of servers for DayZ itself.

[Wolfe(^..^) 9]

Right now day z is a game where people can go around to the different towns and cities, fighting zombies and avoiding the bandits that may be lurking around the corner, for the chance to score that rare gun that they may come across in a police station, or that cool piece of military gear that they've been really hoping to find.  If persistence is done in a bad way, that aspect of the game could very well be lost forever, which would ruin the experience for a lot of people.  I personally don't want day z to devolve into a purely clan-based war game, or one where new players have to go on some neckbeard's private server and find his secret stash of tents in order to be able to find a cool gun.  Sure, scarcity is fine, as long as it doesn't destroy the game that many of us have come to love in the process.

[.Ender. 42]

^^ the key here is, the game needs to be enjoyable and just as fair to new players as the veterans. Once the dedicated players basically own the servers and hoard all the loot, what chance do the new players or fresh spawns have? The mods are fun, but how fun is it really to not care about death in DayZ since you can run back to your base and just gear back up like its nothing?

 

I agree...the clans/factions thing will probably get out of hand and end up monopolizing the game. I think team work and clans are cool, but people like me who lone-wolf it and enjoy scavenging, cooking in a fire, fishing in a pond, and basically surviving every day I log in and looting small towns for basic needs will be hard pressed to enjoy the game once servers are over run with capitalized clans having checkpoints at every decent loot spot.

 

to be honest, as awesome of an idea vehicles are and as much as I look forward to fixing one up and having that feeling of accomplishment of owning one, I hope they are super hard to get running and very rare.. Maybe a lot of vehicles but rare parts or the opposite, lots of parts but rare vehicles (my choice). Its all speculation at this point so all we can really do is continue on through the months of updates and see whats in store for us..I quit every few months for a few months at a time..every time I come back I enjoy it just as much. That will be less the case if I know any time I come back I have to either join a clan or accept Ill never have anything better than a damaged screwdriver and an old pair of jogging pants.

Edited October 14, 2014 by .Ender.

[doctorwhy 157]

I read the first 3 pages and can see both sides to the debate about uncertainty of things rocket said.

That being said I might be shot for saying this.

I personally think that a character should be locked to a server and a server should have a percentage chance based on its set rarity to spawn.

If the server allows for 4 helicopters (or their parts) then so be it. Kill the helicopter or dude with the part. Over time if owner doesn't play it degrades then eventually respawns when it does.

But hey that's just me.

[qwer4790 26]

I think persistence should work on all servers, both public and private servers, since private servers are just used as a loot paradise to its owners. 

[Grundlesmuggler 41]

None of it matters.

 

Soon as private shards and private hives are out nobody will be playing on the public servers.

 

I'm not sure I understand how these private ones work.  You are saying that once private servers are available people with host their own and just farm loot on their own server?  How then do they interact with other people?  If the loot is available on their server wouldn't they have to go to a public server to loot?  I haven't really done research on the private vs public server thing yet.