[Question] Public Shard vs Private Shard

[Weyland Yutani (DayZ) 1159]

Looking at the private shard list in-game and notice many of them are empty or very low population.

 

Why are players so leery about joining private shards?

 

Looking to learn more about this phenomenon...thanks for the feedback!

Edited November 24, 2014 by Weyland Yutani

[gibonez 3633]

They are new that's all. Or people have come to rely on server hopping

[-Gews- 7443]

Because you can't take the character to other servers and the private ones can't offer different gameplay from regular servers.

[Weyland Yutani (DayZ) 1159]

They are new that's all. Or people have come to rely on server hopping

I really hope the latter isn't true, would be a shame.

 

As far as being new, is it though? I know this isn't the private hive from the mod, but the private hive was where it was at. I really thought a lot more people would jump ship from the public shard considering the state its in.

 

Curious to hear from some of the newer players and what they think.

[soulfirez 901]

Because you can't take the character to other servers and the private ones can't offer different gameplay from regular servers.

You can take your character to other servers thats why there called private shards not private servers... There will be a group of servers on this private shard for example i play on hell in hand basket private shard it also allows me to play hhib savage lands server aswell.

 

I think because the idea is fairly new and people dont understand the concept( maybe some left over stigma from some of the bad run private servers of the mod which is a shame as there were some great ones to .)

 

sadly i kinda agree with gibonez some of it very well might be many many people rely on server hoping , they die then go to a low pop server go to a high loot area loot it and then jump to the next till geared then go back to heavy pop servers. How can i say this well when i got bored several patches ago  my favorite sport was to set up at the NWAF on a low pop server and snipe hoppers my record on a server thats pop stayed between 2  & 5 players was 24 kills in 2 hours on a server that NEVER grew beyond 5 people strange huh..

[igor-vk 909]

I play on private shard servers since last update. Gives me option to have different play styles without loosing gear or position on map. Sadly, many are low pop or empty.

On one server I have full military gear with AKs, on other server I have all civilian gear. I hope my servers dont shut down too fast, that is only down thing to me.

[Evil Minion 943]

You have to start a new characater you can only use on this shard and if the server is full or down you lose access to this survivor. Also if the server population is not not your liking (too many or too few players) or your friends are playing elsewhere you can not simply switch to the server. Another potential issue is the smaller loot economy as there are no connections between servers - not an issue right now as loot works perfectly fine

 

Then the two main advantages of private shards are things that need to be fixed on the public hive as well and thus can be called "temporary": Server hopping destroys most of the game dynamics but many people do it as you can claim a high reward for almost no effort and little risk. Here a (significant) cost needs to be introduced to make ingame travel more attractive and rewarding as travel between servers (a similar thing is true for freshspawn suicide but thats an issue still present on private shards). Then as you can whitelist players you can get rid of cheaters more efficiently - at the risk of banning innocents or using this to only allow a certain community.

 

The last thing might also be a reason some players avoid private shards: They think their own playstyle would not fit into the community promoted by the admins.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Evil Minion

[xalienax 621]

Because you can't take the character to other servers and the private ones can't offer different gameplay from regular servers.

Pretty much this.

 

I honestly wont host/rent a private server untill I, as the owner, can do as i damn well please with it. Im not going to pay for the 'priviledge' of hosting rocket's world. out of our entire gorup, we have opted to avoid private servers for the time being due to inability to garentee acess and since no communities can really create any unique alterations, theres nothing new/original to be had there.

[Punisher-Sir 146]

I think there are a variety of reasons.

 

I play on our clan server and if it's low pop it's probably a bit intimidating as a fresh spawn to log in and see 6 clan members.  We often see people log in and then log out immediately, the only reason I can think is they're scared of running into a group.  Truth be told our group roams around the airfield and we usually stick together so if you're not aggressive most likely you'll be on your way.

 

No loot, persistence and server hopping I'm sure play into it as well but our Admins have disabled persistence.  They've also changed our restarts to every 2 hours, because it's a private shard they can do this.  They did this so that it's not so hard to get gear and survive as a fresh spawn because loot is EVERYWHERE.

 

A few of the BIG pluses are the Admins can control the player base and with clan members being on if something happens they can get in touch with someone to fix it promptly.  These include things like hackers, glitchers or any other server problems that might pop up.

 

You get to know the community and where people like to hangout.  Once you know the map and the area's where certain groups are it give you the freedom to play anyway you want, with whoever you want.  When you know the community things like camping spawn points can be taken care of.  Last night our clan made a sweep of the coastal towns, we found a guy trying to snipe people from on top of the fire station in Cherno and he became a fresh spawn himself as a result, LOL

 

I myself wasn't to fond of  the idea of private shards when I first heard about them but now that I've got some experience with them I can't believe how much better my playing experience has been.

 

Punisher

Edited November 24, 2014 by Punisher-Sir

[xalienax 621]

I think there are a variety of reasons.

 

I play on our clan server and if it's low pop it's probably a bit intimidating as a fresh spawn to log in and see 6 clan members.  We often see people log in and then log out immediately, the only reason I can think is they're scared of running into a group.  Truth be told our group roams around the airfield and we usually stick together so if you're not aggressive most likely you'll be on your way.

 

No loot, persistence and server hopping I'm sure play into it as well but our Admins have disabled persistence.  They've also changed our restarts to every 2 hours, because it's a private shard they can do this.  They did this so that it's not so hard to get gear and survive as a fresh spawn because loot is EVERYWHERE.

 

A few of the BIG pluses are the Admins can control the player base and with clan members being on if something happens they can get in touch with someone to fix it promptly.  These include things like hackers, glitchers or any other server problems that might pop up.

 

You get to know the community and where people like to hangout.  Once you know the map and the area's where certain groups are it give you the freedom to play anyway you want, with whoever you want.  When you know the community things like camping spawn points can be taken care of.  Last night our clan made a sweep of the coastal towns, we found a guy trying to snipe people from on top of the fire station in Cherno and he became a fresh spawn himself as a result, LOL

 

I myself wasn't to fond of  the idea of private shards when I first heard about them but now that I've got some experience with them I can't believe how much better my playing experience has been.

 

Punisher

I am actually hopeful for even more customization for private communities. there is NO reason to not allow it seeing as characters/gear from private shards do not carry across to public.

[galekast 70]

I am actually playing on 2 private shards at the moment and have a public character too.. One private shard for my solo play, one for playing with my friend and the public one for when I want to group with a couple of others. Keeps my options open so I always have a choice, though I tend to stick to the same public servers as well. I guess I like playing and knowing if I do head to a military area then a happy little server hopper isn't going to pop in and waste me from a room I just checked.. But I was the same on the mod, picked a server and stuck with it, had no reason to move, got to know the various groups and people, knew who I could trust and who to watch out for, was a lot of fun.. Though that is very difficult on the standalone with most people being KOS etc. Personally I can see me playing more and more on the private shards rather than the public and hopefully when the owners get more powers it will open it way up for a lot more variety which will be nice.. But currently, I have 3 characters and that is more than enough to keep me busy so if the private shards I play on are full I can just jump on the public one.. But then again, sometimes I just join another private one and begin the loot run all again as to be honest, thats my favorite part of the game...

[gibonez 3633]

I have my fingers crossed that the private shards are just testing experiments that eventually turns every server into a private shards.

Getting rid of the public hive would solve so many problems.

Less combat logging, no ghosting, no server hopping, greater potential for survival mechanics.

[Caboose187 (DayZ) 3036]

I have my fingers crossed that the private shards are just testing experiments that eventually turns every server into a private shards.

Getting rid of the public hive would solve so many problems.

Less combat logging, no ghosting, no server hopping, greater potential for survival mechanics.

Not gonna happen.  Public shard vs private shard is like 3pp vs 1pp.  People need their easy mode.  Server hopping and wall peeking.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Caboose187

[gibonez 3633]

Not gonna happen. Public shard vs private shard is like 3pp vs 1pp. People need their easy mode. Server hopping and wall peeking.

Shame.

Moving towards all servers being private shards would improve the game dramatically.