Server Switching Concept

[Evil Minion 943]

With server hopping and (to a lesser degree) ghosting running wild I really think there should be changes to the server switching mechanics to get rid of the massive negative impact on game dynamics (less ingame travel, balance by rarity not working, people being overly geared, areas feeling empty, picked clean military bases etc.). This concept is my proposal to combat the situation:

On a hive you have three basic states for each character:

• Limbo: The character is logged out and not assigned to a specific server.
• Off-server: The character is logged out but still assigned to a server.
• On-server: The character is logged in and thus assigned to the server he/she is on.

Also there are three timers that affect the character states:

• The Limbo Timer (~30 days) counts down while a character is in Limbo and is rapidly counts up (to a maximum of 30 days) when the character is On-server. Upon reaching zero a ranom limited item* is removed from the characters inventory and the Limbo Timer is set to 10 days.
• The Off-server Timer (~3 hours) is started right after logging out (moving from On-server to Off-server) and reset upon logging back into a server. if it reaches zero the character is moved into Limbo.
• The Travel Timer (~30 minutes) starts when logging off a server and prevents logging into another server until it reaches zero. Upon logging into a server it is reset to the former starting value and increased by 10 minutes if the server switch happened during Off-server time**. Upon reaching Limbo the starting value is reset to 30 minutes (so it's naturally limited to a maximum time equal to the Off-server phase).

Additionally you have to wait for at least 10 minutes before logging back into the same server (On-server > Off-server > On-server) unless your character is still on the map in which case you can log in immediately and take over the body left behind. There might also be an option to skip the Travel Timer by killing your old character and starting from scratch (new spawn).

 

Now the actual values might be different and maybe there is also need for some additional events (like not applying the Travel Timer if the server restarted/crashed, only applying a portion if the player was kicked etc.) but in general those changes might reduce unhealthy server hopping, ghosting and offline hoarding (keeping rare items by storing them on a character in Limbo) while still allowing travel between servers and thus allowing progress on the same character and a greater loot economy.

 

*Items that are limited by number on the hive which means having them in your inventory prevents them to spawn elsewhere.

**There might also be an ingame cost in the form of reduced energy/water equal to the amonut you would have consumed while being active ingame instead of waiting for the switch.

[newguyzombie 122]

idea is shit. what if my server goes down. thx, i had a nice evening.

what if my friends come online and we are abouot 5 guys, but my server is full? thx, dont play together.

 

go private hive and have fun there.

[Baker. 1484]

Hey how about this.

 

idea is shit. what if my server goes down. thx, i had a nice evening.

what if my friends come online and we are about 5 guys, but my server is full? thx, don't play together.

 

go private hive and have fun there.

This^

 

People who put these ideas forward never think about how it affects anyone but themselves.

Edited March 13, 2015 by B@ker

[Caboose187 (DayZ) 3036]

Only those who server hop would call this a shit idea.  Although some of the ideas in the OP's post are really bad.

[ToySmokes 116]

I don't understand why people say it's shit. Just argue against it instead...

idea is shit

< This is when you lost the argumantation

[Baker. 1484]

I don't understand why people say it's shit. Just argue against it instead...

 

He did. You chose to only quote that one phrase.

[Baker. 1484]

Only those who server hop would call this a shit idea.  Although some of the ideas in the OP's post are really bad.

I don't server hop, but I do on occasion want to switch to a server that oh say, A) has more players B.) isnt bugged out C) gets better ping than the one I'm on D) My friends are all playing on E) Is better moderated, the list goes on. This silly mechanic punishes anyone who wishes to change servers for any of these reasons just to stifle server hoppers. The solution if it bothers you is to play on a private hive, or make all the servers private hives. But what has been proposed above causes far more trouble than it is worth. It defeats the purpose of the hive all together. 

 

And also go oilers!

Edited March 13, 2015 by B@ker

[Caboose187 (DayZ) 3036]

I don't server hop, but I do on occasion want to switch to a server that oh say, A) has more players B.) isnt bugged out C) gets better ping than the one I'm on D) My friends are all playing on E) Is better moderated, the list goes on. This silly mechanic punishes anyone who wishes to change servers for any of these reasons just to stifle server hoppers. The solution if it bothers you is to play on a private hive, or make all the servers private hives. But what has been proposed above causes far more trouble than it is worth. It defeats the purpose of the hive all together. 

 

And also go oilers!

A) learn to join a populated server 

B.) Learn how to favorite servers (prevents joining bugged servers)

C) Don't join high ping servers

D) Tell your friends about a, b and c

E) Refer to B

[gibonez 3633]

If it stops people from server hopping im all for it.

[Baker. 1484]

A) learn to join a populated server 

B.) Learn how to favorite servers (prevents joining bugged servers)

C) Don't join high ping servers

D) Tell your friends about a, b and c

E) Refer to B

:facepalm:

[ToySmokes 116]

He did. You chose to only quote that one phrase.

I didn't point my words at him only. I ment all those people who just write short comments of how shitty an idea are instead of arguing against it. What I ment with my comment was that he lost his argumentation when he started with idea is shit.

[Baker. 1484]

I didn't point my words at him only. I ment all those people who just write short comments of how shitty an idea are instead of arguing against it. 

I can dig it

[newguyzombie 122]

Only those who server hop would call this a shit idea.  Although some of the ideas in the OP's post are really bad.

1st of all i dont server hop, my favorite playstyle is to go on 4x/50 server -> electro/cherno an try to sneak up on fighting people and gear up there/try to survive in this city as much as i can.

so i dont even need to serverhop.

but i dont always play alone, so when my friends just come online i cant play with them, or we need to wait 15 minutes till everyone can play together(following the idea of the op). and as i told before, what if the server goes down.

[Evil Minion 943]

All I can see that people like to cry and point out all the bad things but when a possible fix takes away even a tiny bit of comfort for them they raise arms against it.

Only those who server hop would call this a shit idea.  Although some of the ideas in the OP's post are really bad.

Can you elaborate? I wrote this after a few thoughts about the issue and reading another topic where people complained about ghosting and server hopping. So it's pretty far from a fully fledged out design and is expected to have some major issue I just not thought about.

 

idea is shit. what if my server goes down. thx, i had a nice evening.

what if my friends come online and we are abouot 5 guys, but my server is full? thx, dont play together.

 

go private hive and have fun there.

I don't really get those arguments. All those "reasons" you mention are present in private hives as well - even more pronounced as instead of having a hard time switching you could not switch at all (which also reduces the loot economy size). What if your private server crashes? What if your private server is full? That's why I mentioned specific "events" that could help people not being stuck in queue. Some examples (ideas that might or might not work):

• on server restart/crash the players are moved to Limbo (both On-server and Off-server players)
• you can choose to "suicide" on server switch and thus avoid the waiting time (but you will respawn at a random spawn point)
• similarily if you switch servers while your character is dead there should be no waiting time
• upon being kicked from a server your switch time is much shorter
• you can "reserve" a slot on a full server, if a slot opens you receive a message and have X minutes to switch without penalty

The whole point is to make the public hive a little more like the private hives getting rid of the major disadvantages caused by rapid switching while still retaining most advantages resulting from having a connection between servers.

 

I intentionally decided to make the initial Travel Timer noticeable (~30 minutes) instead of peanuts (like 5 minutes) to make even switching once something you would like to avoid if not absolutely necessary. If you are switching for non-ingame reasons this might be annoying. However, the vast majority of server switches are most likely for ingame reasons (looting, ghosting, combat logging) and we cannot refuse to fix the main game issues because it would also hurt a small minority to a far lesser degree. And as mentioned above there could also be some functions to help those players (who should be the majority of server switchers when the system works).

[Baker. 1484]

All I can see that people like to cry and point out all the bad things but when a possible fix takes away even a tiny bit of comfort for them they raise arms against it.

Can you elaborate? I wrote this after a few thoughts about the issue and reading another topic where people complained about ghosting and server hopping. So it's pretty far from a fully fledged out design and is expected to have some major issue I just not thought about.

 

I don't really get those arguments. All those "reasons" you mention are present in private hives as well - even more pronounced as instead of having a hard time switching you could not switch at all (which also reduces the loot economy size). What if your private server crashes? What if your private server is full? That's why I mentioned specific "events" that could help people not being stuck in queue. Some examples (ideas that might or might not work):

• on server restart/crash the players are moved to Limbo (both On-server and Off-server players)
• you can choose to "suicide" on server switch and thus avoid the waiting time (but you will respawn at a random spawn point)
• similarily if you switch servers while your character is dead there should be no waiting time
• upon being kicked from a server your switch time is much shorter
• you can "reserve" a slot on a full server, if a slot opens you receive a message and have X minutes to switch without penalty

The whole point is to make the public hive a little more like the private hives getting rid of the major disadvantages caused by rapid switching while still retaining most advantages resulting from having a connection between servers.

 

I intentionally decided to make the initial Travel Timer noticeable (~30 minutes) instead of peanuts (like 5 minutes) to make even switching once something you would like to avoid if not absolutely necessary. If you are switching for non-ingame reasons this might be annoying. However, the vast majority of server switches are most likely for ingame reasons (looting, ghosting, combat logging) and we cannot refuse to fix the main game issues because it would also hurt a small minority to a far lesser degree. And as mentioned above there could also be some functions to help those players (who should be the majority of server switchers when the system works).

I suppose it doesn't matter anyways as this is never going to happen. Its fun to throw it around i suppose.

[cash81 506]

im not an expert on ghosting but if you were in a firefight  and you notice that the guy isn't around for a minute or so, wouldn't it be safe to assume he's logged out and is about to show up someplace else? and then just move your position and wait for him to appear?

 

example. you take a shot from a rooftop. you miss. he runs behind a shed. you wait.....and wait.... and then move to the other side of the roof so that you can keep an eye on your rooftop position/ladder/door or whatever, knowing that he will probably pop up on the roof with you after 1) exiting 2) switching servers 3) running to the new position 4) exiting 5)spawning back on the original server.

 

seems like that would take at least a few minutes to accomplish?