1206 jackpot

[savvi]

Taking offers on a 1206 self knowledge jackpot item from EG. Feel free to PM or post here.

[Goat]

What worn slot is it? What does it look like? Any fluff scripts?

[savvi]

Pin worn, no scripts, huge number of charges (enhancive).

[Stumplicker]

I might buy this just so non-monks can't use it.

[Amerek]

I might buy this just so non-monks can't use it.

Too late

[savvi]

This item was sold on buyout. No, I didn't have a buyout set, but it was strong enough and fast...so I took it.

[Archigeek]

What an embarrassing spell design for a monk spell. Cool for some other class maybe, but I feel sorry for monks.

[audioserf]

"Oh but one day the Savant class we decided we're not gonna bother making will have it, it's not a monk spell it's a shared minor circle"-simu, more or less, also lol

[sellstuff1]

I mean, no one's had a problem with Simu directing 90% of their development towards people who just treat Gemstone as a slot machine, so why would people now?

[Donquix]

What an embarrassing spell design for a monk spell. Cool for some other class maybe, but I feel sorry for monks.

But it's ok because it can be justified with other horrible spell circle designs like 409 from 30 years ago that we apparently never learned from! --simu, actually

[khorpulent]

Well come on, spill the beans, how much did you sell it for?

[audioserf]

Pretty sure the person who bought it is already selling it again

[Methais]

I mean, no one's had a problem with Simu directing 90% of their development towards people who just treat Gemstone as a slot machine, so why would people now?

People have been trashing on Simu over that since it began. Simu just gives zero fucks.

[Stumplicker]

People have been trashing on Simu over that since it began. Simu just gives zero fucks.

Yeah, because people keep throwing money at them. We need to stop harassing Simu about it and start ostracizing the individuals who encourage it by throwing tens of thousands of dollars at them for virtually nothing. It just makes everyone else's experience worse by making that sort of "development model" work. Even casinos offer outreach programs for addicted gamblers. Mario looks at Beldannon and just sees a dollar sign.

[Methais]

Yeah, because people keep throwing money at them.

Because they're stupid as fuck too.


We need to stop harassing Simu about it and start ostracizing the individuals who encourage it by throwing tens of thousands of dollars at them for virtually nothing. It just makes everyone else's experience worse by making that sort of "development model" work.

This would have zero effect.

[Taernath]

We need to stop harassing Simu about it and start ostracizing the individuals who encourage it by throwing tens of thousands of dollars at them for virtually nothing.

And how do you propose doing that? Not healing them in TSC? Active community members who DON'T spend money at these cash festivals are probably in the minority now.

[Stumplicker]

This would have zero effect.

I know this'll be an unpopular comment, but it worked with Alastir. I'm sure it's going to be challenged, but Alastir has corrected his behavior since he was ostracized. He may not have changed as a person, and who knows if he has, but I haven't seen him engage in open arguments on LNet, here, or make a shady deal since he was outed. He's stopped harassing players in game and claiming to have Wyrom's ear.

Social pressure works. You start applying that same pressure to the whales, where every interaction they have with anyone in the community there's commentary on them being "that gambling box scumbag", and they'll start taking a very hard look at their behavior.

Edit to add: And with those people it will likely be an easier task. They're largely not bad people. They're just unaware that their compulsive behavior has a lasting and detrimental effect on all of us and the game as a whole. The more people who are openly and vocally not okay with it, the fewer people will engage in it.

[Methais]

I know this'll be an unpopular comment, but it worked with Alastir. I'm sure it's going to be challenged, but Alastir has corrected his behavior since he was ostracized. He may not have changed as a person, and who knows if he has, but I haven't seen him engage in open arguments on LNet, here, or make a shady deal since he was outed. He's stopped harassing players in game and claiming to have Wyrom's ear.

Social pressure works. You start applying that same pressure to the whales, where every interaction they have with anyone in the community there's commentary on them being "that gambling box scumbag", and they'll start taking a very hard look at their behavior.

Edit to add: And with those people it will likely be an easier task. They're largely not bad people. They're just unaware that their compulsive behavior has a lasting and detrimental effect on all of us and the game as a whole. The more people who are openly and vocally not okay with it, the fewer people will engage in it.

You have no real way to tell how much money anyone else is spending unless they're openly sharing that information. You also have no real IC way to do anything about it. That, and someone spending money at events and encouraging Simu to keep up with this assbag model is apples and oranges compared to a player acting like a bag of shit to other players. Harassing players thinking it will solve the problem is just wishful thinking. They'll likely either just quit playing due to the toxic environment or people will start getting warned/banned for harassing them.

GS is a slot machine now operating on the mobile game stick-it-up-their-ass model.. You're just going to have to accept it, because it's not changing anytime soon, if ever.

[Pereus]

Its pretty simple guys. If you don't like how Simu is doing business, don't buy their product. I stopped for a variety of reasons, but one of them was I did not like the business model they are promoting so I decided I would no longer give them money. I do the same with my Miami Dolphins, I don't buy gear or spend money on game tickets because I hate how the owner directs the team. Sure, both cases is a drop in the bucket to them, but enough drops and it starts to have an affect.

Harassing other players who spend their money how they wish is just asinine.

[Neveragain]

Truth. Every word.

All the GMs are in on this too. Every last one of them. They apparently get a cut of the profits from the revenue generated by the events.

It’s a fine tuned casino now (the last vestige of old school GS being done away with after Ebon was turned into the Bellagio). This may sound crazy but the only way I see this ending and GS returning to an older format is an act of congress. http://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2018/2/13/17007830/hawaii-loot-crate-laws-ea-star-wars-battlefront-2

Another good read.

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/195806/chasing_the_whale_examining_the_.php?print=1


He adds that there is currently no proven link between free-to-play "whales" and addiction. "I would personally like to see wide-ranging independent studies done before we jump to any conclusions about any negative psychological effects. ~ Developer

Sounds almost verbatim to how the tobacco industry acted.

[time4fun]

Just as a reminder- This is a business, not a charitable enterprise. If you want GS to stay around, it needs to pull in enough money to convince Stillfront it's worthwhile.

[Stumplicker]

Just as a reminder- This is a business, not a charitable enterprise. If you want GS to stay around, it needs to pull in enough money to convince Stillfront it's worthwhile.

Stillfront group publishes its earnings and profit margins for each of its subsidiaries. Gemstone has the single highest subscription price model with some of the lowest server upkeep of any online game. It pays its customer service and development departments in in fairy wishes and good vibes. Their profit margins make Indonesian sweatshops jealous, and that's before you throw their casino crap into the mix. But let me guess, you have a master's degree in business you haven't told us about yet?

[Neveragain]

Just as a reminder- This is a business, not a charitable enterprise. If you want GS to stay around, it needs to pull in enough money to convince Stillfront it's worthwhile.

You could host this game from your closet on a server from goodwill.

Shit, you can play private server WOW for free and they do just fine on community donations.

[audioserf]

I think at this point the only choice is vote with your entertainment dollars. If you don't like how Simu are conducting themselves and the direction of GS, stop paying them money. Ie, quit, or just do F2P if you still want to play but not give them your money. They're going to do what they're going to do and freaking out about how you want the "good old days" back accomplishes absolutely nothing. The "good old days" are never coming back. Micro transactions are not going away. They aren't going to shut down the SimuCoin Store because people make mad posts about it. I don't like the slot machine stuff, but it doesn't bother me enough to quit, so they're still collecting monthly sub money from me. Be the change you want to see in your archaic text based nerd game. :)

[Methais]

I think at this point the only choice is vote with your entertainment dollars. If you don't like how Simu are conducting themselves and the direction of GS, stop paying them money. Ie, quit, or just do F2P if you still want to play but not give them your money. They're going to do what they're going to do and freaking out about how you want the "good old days" back accomplishes absolutely nothing. The "good old days" are never coming back. Micro transactions are not going away. They aren't going to shut down the SimuCoin Store because people make mad posts about it. I don't like the slot machine stuff, but it doesn't bother me enough to quit, so they're still collecting monthly sub money from me. Be the change you want to see in your archaic text based nerd game. :)

^

Simu's not gonna be like "Oh, people stopped buying into our truck stop casino racket. Guess we'll go back to ticketed events!"

What will happen instead is Stillfront would probably just shut the game down, and then you'll see a level of crying that would rival all the crying that's taken place since Trump got elected.

I suppose it's possible that Stillfront would just cash out and sell GS, but that's extremely unlikely I'd think.

[time4fun]

Stillfront group publishes its earnings and profit margins for each of its subsidiaries. Gemstone has the single highest subscription price model with some of the lowest server upkeep of any online game. It pays its customer service and development departments in in fairy wishes and good vibes. Their profit margins make Indonesian sweatshops jealous, and that's before you throw their casino crap into the mix. But let me guess, you have a master's degree in business you haven't told us about yet?


You've never been an acquisition, have you?

Your whole "highest subscription price/lowest upkeep" point is forgetting one key thing: number of subscribers. This isn't a huge population- it's a tiny game compared to their headliners. (Candidly, it's a tiny game compared to Simu's headliners)

Sever upkeep isn't the only cost. GMs *do* get paid more now than before (though I'm sure it's still not a lot), and we have one full-time staff member. So here're the possible options:

1) Stillfront decides Simu doesn't bring in enough money and decides to sell it off to raise quick capital for another acquisition- in which case we all just *pray* that the new owners don't say "WTF are we doing wasting time on a text-based MUD? No more full time staff and stop paying the volunteers. Just let it do its thing until it dies"

2) Stillfront decides GS doesn't bring in enough money, and they decide to can Wyrom and bring someone in whose sole purpose is to squeeze as many dollars and cents out of GS until it dies. OR who moves to an entirely volunteer model, and things die faster.

4) Stillfront decides GS doesn't make enough money and cuts the pay to GMs who then gradually start to quit

5) Stillfront decides GS makes enough money, and it leaves GS alone to do its thing

6) Stillfront realizes GS is bringing in A LOT of money per subscriber, wants to start making efforts to bring in more subscribers, and dedicates resources to it.

7) Stillfront realizes GS is bringing in A LOT of money per subscriber and decides we need a full-time developer too, and we can afford it because we're bringing so many people in AND keeping them around.

Decide which of those options you like and act accordingly.

[Stumplicker]

10) We realize we exist in the real world where Stillfront Group is not the Brawndo corporation performing auto-layoffs when a spreadsheet shows a decline, and Stillfront reels in the extent of the microtransactions back to a level that's acceptable to the playerbase.

It's already been shown to work in the gaming community, and on a much larger scale. The fact that Gemstone has a smaller playerbase than another success story, like Star Wars Battlefront II's loot boxes is a benefit, not a hindrance. It took a huge public smear campaign against EA for them to remove loot boxes from an otherwise fun game.

In the case of Simutronics, it would take 150-200 people. That's about 1/5 of the average monthly unique logins (not accounts, logins, by Stillfront's numbers). 150-200 people all cancel their accounts on a single day, along with an email to the CEO of Stillfront corporation, whose personal email is listed on their website by the way, with a brief summation of what change you would like to see, and you have successfully enacted that change. That change includes getting rid of Mario, who absolutely is at the helm, and reigning in the pervasiveness of the mechanical benefits for dollars racket.

It was shown on a smaller scale within Gemstone to be successful already, when Simutronics accidentally released 6x HCW weapons at DR. 20-30 people complained and the company reversed its position. Nobody can argue microtransactions out of the game entirely at this point, but each time they hold an event, they become more and more bold. Individual currencies for every event, the same items costing more and more of those currencies at each subsequent run. Hell, for the last several events they have been selling EXP for dollars in the form of "roleplaying award" orbs.

[Hymore246]

You've never been an acquisition, have you?

Your whole "highest subscription price/lowest upkeep" point is forgetting one key thing: number of subscribers. This isn't a huge population- it's a tiny game compared to their headliners. (Candidly, it's a tiny game compared to Simu's headliners)

Sever upkeep isn't the only cost. GMs *do* get paid more now than before (though I'm sure it's still not a lot), and we have one full-time staff member. So here're the possible options:

1) Stillfront decides Simu doesn't bring in enough money and decides to sell it off to raise quick capital for another acquisition- in which case we all just *pray* that the new owners don't say "WTF are we doing wasting time on a text-based MUD? No more full time staff and stop paying the volunteers. Just let it do its thing until it dies"

2) Stillfront decides GS doesn't bring in enough money, and they decide to can Wyrom and bring someone in whose sole purpose is to squeeze as many dollars and cents out of GS until it dies. OR who moves to an entirely volunteer model, and things die faster.

4) Stillfront decides GS doesn't make enough money and cuts the pay to GMs who then gradually start to quit

5) Stillfront decides GS makes enough money, and it leaves GS alone to do its thing

6) Stillfront realizes GS is bringing in A LOT of money per subscriber, wants to start making efforts to bring in more subscribers, and dedicates resources to it.

7) Stillfront realizes GS is bringing in A LOT of money per subscriber and decides we need a full-time developer too, and we can afford it because we're bringing so many people in AND keeping them around.

Decide which of those options you like and act accordingly.

I agree with a lot of this but I have a hard time believing 6 or 7 will ever happen. A lot of money has been made from paid events like DR and EG in the past few years but it only seems like the money goes towards MORE paid events instead of into the game itself. Updates to the base game seem few and far between. Outside of the failure that is F2P, I can't think of any attempt to try and get more people into the game either. At this point, I feel like GS4 is functioning like a mobile game. They want to keep their "whales" happy and they market towards them almost exclusively. The prices GS4 requires for subscriptions and paid content is absolutely ridiculous compared to all other games. I'm certain we have people spending several hundred dollars a month on GS4 stuff and while that their business, it's clear the GMs are more interested in pleasing them instead of the rest of player base.

I'm sad to see that 1206 really was just a way to get more money. It strikes me as tone deaf and disrespectful to monks and the whole player base. I mean, you could have just moved 1206 to the Arcane circle and explained that it would be better for all pures to have limited use of it instead of giving it to a profession that doesn't exist and a profession that can't use it.

Regardless, I agree that GS4 isn't going to go back to the old days. Honestly, I think it will just decline until simu decides to pull the plug because they can't squeeze any more blood from the GS4 stone.

[audioserf]

I agree with a lot of this but I have a hard time believing 6 or 7 will ever happen. A lot of money has been made from paid events like DR and EG in the past few years but it only seems like the money goes towards MORE paid events instead of into the game itself. Updates to the base game seem few and far between.

Agreed. I think case "5" is the current state of affairs and the best we're going to get. Stillfront wants to forget GS exists as long as it keeps making adequate money. I do not expect them to ever dedicate enough interest to actively try and put money back into the game. That just seems unrealistic to me. GS is a line on a Stillfront spreadsheet that's expected to meet X threshold, and as long as it does that or close to that, it'll get left be.

[time4fun]

If the average sub price for GS continues to rise- they may very well decide to try to increase the number of subs. If it stays very profitable- they have a vested interest in keeping it as such as long as they can. If not, then they have a vested interest in ignoring it until it dies- or- selling off Simu to raise quick capital.

F2P wasn't a failure, btw.

As far as dev priorities- yeah, it's always going to go to what makes more money. But I'll point out that for the first time in a while, they're actively recruiting more Dev GMs. And we've seen some great development going on the last few years- better than the years prior, from what I gather. (I was gone, so it's all second-hand)

I'd love to see us get a full-time development resource at some point. But we'll need to make sure GS is very profitable to do it. And if not that, a much larger pool of volunteer developers (which also cost money). For that, GS still needs to show it's profitable enough to warrant that.

That's just how this stuff works, for better or for worse.

[audioserf]

I'd love to see us get a full-time development resource at some point. But we'll need to make sure GS is very profitable to do it. And if not that, a much larger pool of volunteer developers (which also cost money). For that, GS still needs to show it's profitable enough to warrant that.

The lack of meaningful dev is very frustrating. That said, I absolutely reject the idea that it's our responsibility to hope and wish and pray and believe hard enough while we pull the SimuCoin levers and one day maybe the Stillfront genie will let a couple of coders fly out of the bottle. We have no reason to have faith that'll happen, and unless someone (anyone) from either StillFront or Simu more or less says that it will, to say "but we'll need to make sure GS is very profitable to do it" rubs me the wrong way. I don't have it handy, but I think the last time financials came out, GS is already very profitable for them - and still dev languishes.

If someone is interested in the SimuCoin stuff and it's fun for them to buy items/game passes/booklets, have at it. But absolutely no player should feel compelled to spend extra $ on top of the monthly sub just in hopes that it somehow benefits the game.

[Neveragain]

9.) Whales no longer have an audience to laud their 67x Dagger that killed Koar.

It's like watching the king pretend that he killed the dragon.

[Stumplicker]

The lack of meaningful dev is very frustrating. That said, I absolutely reject the idea that it's our responsibility to hope and wish and pray and believe hard enough while we pull the SimuCoin levers and one day maybe the Stillfront genie will let a couple of coders fly out of the bottle. We have no reason to have faith that'll happen, and unless someone (anyone) from either StillFront or Simu more or less says that it will, to say "but we'll need to make sure GS is very profitable to do it" rubs me the wrong way. I don't have it handy, but I think the last time financials came out, GS is already very profitable for them - and still dev languishes.

If someone is interested in the SimuCoin stuff and it's fun for them to buy items/game passes/booklets, have at it. But absolutely no player should feel compelled to spend extra $ on top of the monthly sub just in hopes that it somehow benefits the game.

Gemstone is, and always has been extremely profitable. That's the only reason Simutronics was acquired in the first place. It was the only profitable part of the company with a 20 year history of poor decisions that put it in a financial hole. Nobody bought Simutronics for Dragons of Elanthia. They bought it because the games that funded Dragons of Elanthia and Heroes Journey remained profitable throughout all the rest of the bungling.

I worked out their numbers at the end of 2016 based on Stillfront's reports. Including all their overhead, employee costs, Dragonrealms, Gemstone, and any other games Simutronics is currently running or attempting to develop, Simutronics runs at an 80% profit margin, or almost 3x the highest profit margin most businesses dream of (30% is considered the target for most industries)

[audioserf]

How dare you. CyberStrike 2 is the hidden gem of internet gaming!

[Stumplicker]

How dare you. CyberStrike 2 is the hidden gem of internet gaming!

Haha. I saw a youtube video of somebody reviewing it in I think 2017 or 2016. It was...interesting. I'll see if I can find the link when I get home.

[Methais]

If the average sub price for GS continues to rise- they may very well decide to try to increase the number of subs. If it stays very profitable- they have a vested interest in keeping it as such as long as they can. If not, then they have a vested interest in ignoring it until it dies- or- selling off Simu to raise quick capital.

F2P wasn't a failure, btw.

As far as dev priorities- yeah, it's always going to go to what makes more money. But I'll point out that for the first time in a while, they're actively recruiting more Dev GMs. And we've seen some great development going on the last few years- better than the years prior, from what I gather. (I was gone, so it's all second-hand)

I'd love to see us get a full-time development resource at some point. But we'll need to make sure GS is very profitable to do it. And if not that, a much larger pool of volunteer developers (which also cost money). For that, GS still needs to show it's profitable enough to warrant that.

That's just how this stuff works, for better or for worse.

GS is already profitable enough to have at least one full-time dev. Simu is literally just too cheap to invest back into their own game and hire one.

[Taernath]

In the case of Simutronics, it would take 150-200 people. That's about 1/5 of the average monthly unique logins (not accounts, logins, by Stillfront's numbers). 150-200 people all cancel their accounts on a single day, along with an email to the CEO of Stillfront corporation, whose personal email is listed on their website by the way, with a brief summation of what change you would like to see, and you have successfully enacted that change. That change includes getting rid of Mario, who absolutely is at the helm, and reigning in the pervasiveness of the mechanical benefits for dollars racket.

Honestly that's a pipe dream at this point. I doubt there are 150-200 people that actively post on all the forums combined, let alone 150-200 people that would be willing to quit or blame Wyrom.


It was shown on a smaller scale within Gemstone to be successful already, when Simutronics accidentally released 6x HCW weapons at DR. 20-30 people complained and the company reversed its position.

The reason that was 'fixed' wasn't because they were game breaking or too p2w or whatever, but because they were extremely underpriced and devaluing other stuff that was being sold.

[Methais]

You guys think we’re being a tad pessimistic with 1206? Any of you think that Savants are in the works and they’re trying to surprise us?

https://media.giphy.com/media/L8XuphFGqlSfe/giphy.gif

[Stumplicker]

Honestly that's a pipe dream at this point. I doubt there are 150-200 people that actively post on all the forums combined, let alone 150-200 people that would be willing to quit or blame Wyrom.

I agree, and that's a problem that doesn't just end at Gemstone in this day and age. In the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, a boycott actually had the chance to enact change. In the 2010s, everyone is far too divided and fighting amongst themselves to agree on anything, even in the name of a cause everyone more or less agrees with, and even in a tiny sampling of people such as Gemstone. I guarantee you the only person that will scream "I love these marketing practices!" here or anywhere is Vishra, who probably has her 18th fake master's degree in marketing. Trying it against a gigantic corporation like Wal Mart is laughable, but with 1100 people or so, many of those having multiple accounts to "dollar vote" with, it's feasible.

Though to be clear, I'm not talking about 150 people quitting. I'm talking about 150 people "quitting" in a united front to enact a change, likely within a day of when it happens. The idea is to push back with the threat of a significant amount of revenue loss threat to enact the change that's wanted by the majority. 1 person at a time getting fed up with bad practices can be and is being attributed to natural attrition. 150 people at once sends a message. Same dynamic as between companies and unions.


The reason that was 'fixed' wasn't because they were game breaking or too p2w or whatever, but because they were extremely underpriced and devaluing other stuff that was being sold.

Yeah, and I was actually on the company's side with fixing that when it happened, but that's not the point. The point is that it only took 20-30 people complaining for them to reverse their course rather than deal with potentially 20-30 people demanding refunds on goods or services that were advertised and then pulled. Perception is everything, and it really didn't take that large of a monetary threat for them to be swayed.

The only message we send by doing nothing is that every time they add a new currency or add 50k seashells to the cost of something or give out exp for dollars is that we're okay with it. Largely, we are not okay with it. We just assume there's nothing that can be done. In a community this small, something could still be done if everybody would stop fighting each other for ten minutes. That's just the part that's least likely to happen.

[Methais]

I agree, and that's a problem that doesn't just end at Gemstone in this day and age. In the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, a boycott actually had the chance to enact change. In the 2010s, everyone is far too divided and fighting amongst themselves to agree on anything, even in the name of a cause everyone more or less agrees with, and even in a tiny sampling of people such as Gemstone. I guarantee you the only person that will scream "I love these marketing practices!" here or anywhere is Vishra, who probably has her 18th fake master's degree in marketing. Trying it against a gigantic corporation like Wal Mart is laughable, but with 1100 people or so, many of those having multiple accounts to "dollar vote" with, it's feasible.

Though to be clear, I'm not talking about 150 people quitting. I'm talking about 150 people "quitting" in a united front to enact a change, likely within a day of when it happens. The idea is to push back with the threat of a significant amount of revenue loss threat to enact the change that's wanted by the majority. 1 person at a time getting fed up with bad practices can be and is being attributed to natural attrition. 150 people at once sends a message. Same dynamic as between companies and unions.



Yeah, and I was actually on the company's side with fixing that when it happened, but that's not the point. The point is that it only took 20-30 people complaining for them to reverse their course rather than deal with potentially 20-30 people demanding refunds on goods or services that were advertised and then pulled. Perception is everything, and it really didn't take that large of a monetary threat for them to be swayed.

The only message we send by doing nothing is that every time they add a new currency or add 50k seashells to the cost of something or give out exp for dollars is that we're okay with it. Largely, we are not okay with it. We just assume there's nothing that can be done. In a community this small, something could still be done if everybody would stop fighting each other for ten minutes. That's just the part that's least likely to happen.

I don't know if you were playing at the time but I'm gonna assume yes.

Remember for Growing Pains II when Simu basically nerfed the entire game, especially sorcerers, in the name of "realism" and everything was stupid as fuck for no real reason, there were huge uproars all over the forums, tons of people quit in what was probably the biggest mass exodus in the game's history, including Wyrom who was just a regular PC playing a sorcerer at the time (and apparently raised so much hell he got put on the DO NOT HIRE EVER FOR ANY REASON NO MATTER WHAT list at Simu), and Simu continued to give no fucks while the rest of us had to sit there and watch nearly everything fun and exciting about the game's combat get Warden'd into extreme tedium and retardedness?

Crit randomization is one of the massively retarded things that still exists today that came from that IIRC, for example.

I think the only massively stupid change Simu came up with but never followed through on was the return of breakage. And I'm pretty sure that was a mechanics/resource issue more than it was them being like, "Hey guys, all of our players think this idea sucks, we should probably not do this after all."

Simu as a whole gives zero fucks what the players think, because even when the floor drops out from under them, they double down on whatever the current stupidity is instead of reassessing things and considering the possibility that they made a dumb decision.

[Hymore246]

F2P wasn't a failure, btw.

Oh sorry, I should have been a little more clear about what I meant. I'm sure F2P has gotten more players to come to GS4 but it by far the worst F2P model I've seen in an online game. There was more concern about how to implement F2P to nickle and dime people than there was to give potential buyers a good taste of the game. The list on what limits the player has are staggering and the fact that you can buy a temporary pass for every limit just screams "greed". Not to mention you can't downgrade to F2P from basic or premium. Can't image why. None of the feedback the player base gave on F2P was used by simu. I don't think any improvements in the model have happened since it was made. If the model was better, we could get more new blood into Gemstone.


You guys think we’re being a tad pessimistic with 1206? Any of you think that Savants are in the works and they’re trying to surprise us?

Nope. Not at all. The 4th post in the announcement topic by Estild (http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Combat,%20Magic,%20and%20Character%20Mechanics/Magic/view/5) even says that it isn't a prelude to Savants and that "more thank just monks" can gain access to it. No real explanation was given on why they bothered to create a spell that would be used by a profession they are not working or by a profession that can't used it at all. A lot of people wondered if this was done a SK 1206 for a paid event. Turns out it was completely true. It's an impressively new low for simu.

[Methais]

Nope. Not at all. The 4th post in the announcement topic by Estild (http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Combat,%20Magic,%20and%20Character%20Mechanics/Magic/view/5) even says that it isn't a prelude to Savants and that "more thank just monks" can gain access to it. No real explanation was given on why they bothered to create a spell that would be used by a profession they are not working or by a profession that can't used it at all. A lot of people wondered if this was done a SK 1206 for a paid event. Turns out it was completely true. It's an impressively new low for simu.

Putting this spell in the monk circle just to cash in on a SK item is indeed the shittiest most used car salesman bullshit Simu has ever pulled. Even more than that billing fiasco from years ago when they fucked everyone's shit up when they changed the way their billing cycle works.

[time4fun]

Wyrom/Estild/Whoever else gives zero fucks about the game other than squeezing out more dollars for Stillfront/Whatley/themselves (through bonus checks). The sooner you understand this, the sooner you’ll be able to enjoy what’s left of the game. And I still do think you can enjoy it as long as you play to actually play.

That's just not true. I'm sorry, but it's not.

[Stumplicker]

Putting this spell in the monk circle just to cash in on a SK item is indeed the shittiest most used car salesman bullshit Simu has ever pulled. Even more than that billing fiasco from years ago when they fucked everyone's shit up when they changed the way their billing cycle works.

I wasn't around for the first one you mentioned, but the main reason I first quit (other than just generally not having time to play) was the damn billing thing that double charged my account without notice and overdrew me. That was some shady shit right there. I didn't come back until 2009, for a couple months, and then not again until 2015.

They overdrew my account one day, and waited until a day AFTER that to send an email out saying "blah blah blah our lawyer said we have to do billing this way now so yesterday we charged you double also FUCK YOU". I'm still mad about that.

[Winter]

And how do you propose doing that? Not healing them in TSC?

That's a thing?

[Taernath]

Yeah, and I was actually on the company's side with fixing that when it happened, but that's not the point. The point is that it only took 20-30 people complaining for them to reverse their course rather than deal with potentially 20-30 people demanding refunds on goods or services that were advertised and then pulled. Perception is everything, and it really didn't take that large of a monetary threat for them to be swayed.

The amount of people complaining was incidental. IIRC Wyrom said the entire reason the price thing happened was because he was tired and forgot something, then realized his mistake when he saw the amount of items being sold.


That's a thing?

You haven't truly lived until an empath has threatened to use their influence to get the entire empath community refuse to heal you.

[Astray]

The amount of people complaining was incidental. IIRC Wyrom said the entire reason the price thing happened was because he was tired and forgot something, then realized his mistake when he saw the amount of items being sold.

He also didn't mean those things he said about the PC, he was on Ambien.

[beldar17]

I wish they would at the least create new hunting areas. something challenging and puts out valuable stuff. just make it crazy hard.

[Stumplicker]

If we're gonna continue this, we really ought to move it to a different thread. We did this in this poor guy's sales thread. That's largely my fault. Sorry, savvi.

[Hymore246]

I'd settle for them fixing disarm weapon loss. But given how things have been going with new systems, I'm willing to bet that it will some how be tied to some idiotic item drop or require a inconveniently large amount of waiting time. You know, like enchanting flaring weapons, casting resist nature on metal armors, or the W/P/S smithy.

[Stumplicker]

Here, move it here if we're gonna continue: http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?117930-Things-we-wish-Simutronics-would-fix-(but-they-probably-won-t)

Sorry again, savvi.

[Neveragain]

You haven't truly lived until an empath has threatened to use their influence to get the entire empath community refuse to heal you.

https://media.giphy.com/media/ddKWea9uvIrao/giphy.gif

[Roblar]

IIRC Wyrom said the entire reason the price thing happened was because he was tired and forgot something, then realized his mistake when he saw the amount of items being sold.


I never read any claim to that. I highly doubt he is even involved in that specific a thing.

The error is on whatever GM's shop that was and/or QC.

[Methais]

I wish they would at the least create new hunting areas. something challenging and puts out valuable stuff. just make it crazy hard.

The main problem with that is with the way GS combat works, the only real way to make an area crazy hard is to make it really stupid and annoying, shit like RT stacking and other things that everybody hates that force you to just stand there and watch yourself get pwned without being able to do anything about it.


Design it for group hunting then!

Always sounds great on paper, never really works in practice, especially with the population being a fraction of what it used to be. Would be great for MA crews and little else.

[Stumplicker]

What I'm gathering so far from this thread is this:

Methais' position:
1. All the things that have ever existed suck.
2. All the things that might exist in the future suck.
3. https://media.giphy.com/media/11uV3l0wNmMIr6/giphy-facebook_s.jpg.

Sadly most of the list is justified pessimism.

[Methais]

What I'm gathering so far from this thread is this:

Methais' position:
1. All the things that have ever existed suck.
2. All the things that might exist in the future suck.
3. https://media.giphy.com/media/11uV3l0wNmMIr6/giphy-facebook_s.jpg.

Sadly most of the list is justified pessimism.

If all the things that have ever existed suck, then I wouldn't complain about them being ruined.

Most of the things that currently suck used to not suck until people like Warden stepped in and made them suck, in the name of "balance" and "realism." Realism in a game where you raise the dead and shoot lightning out of your hands and can walk around with no legs.

[Stumplicker]

If all the things that have ever existed suck, then I wouldn't complain about them being ruined.

Most of the things that currently suck used to not suck until people like Warden stepped in and made them suck, in the name of "balance" and "realism." Realism in a game where you raise the dead and shoot lightning out of your hands and can walk around with no legs.

Hey, at least we don't have Emeradan anymore!

Edit: PLUS, the Great Kobold returned! Even if it's not him anymore.

[Methais]

Hey, at least we don't have Emeradan anymore!

He moved from CE to dev at some point. No idea if he's still around on the dev side but he sucked major balls as a CE GM.

[Stumplicker]

He moved from CE to dev at some point. No idea if he's still around on the dev side but he sucked major balls as a CE GM.

Well, there ya go. Silver lining! No dev in Gemstone means no Emeradan! He's Dragons of Elanthia's problem now!

Edit to add: In a rare, double whammy decision, I would like to retroactively change my stance on being on the company's side on the 6x HCW weapons thing. At the time they were rightly claiming that it would unbalance the game and dilute the market. In reality they were just planning on releasing the Smithy anyway at that point and knew it would cut into how many dollars people would drop into it. So screw that. Hindsight showed Mario to be a lying ass in that situation too.

[Neveragain]

Took a short time to research what it costs for one of the top WOW private servers to run. The best numbers I could find was $1200 a month, this is for two different server instances and the ability to have 10,000+ active player accounts.

[time4fun]

Took a short time to research what it costs for one of the top WOW private servers to run. The best numbers I could find was $1200 a month, this is for two different server instances and the ability to have 10,000+ active player accounts.

You realize that's about what Blizzard spends per minute to run one of their servers, right?

Please tell me you don't think Stillfront is paying $1200 a month for servers.

[Methais]

You realize that's about what Blizzard spends per minute to run one of their servers, right?

Please tell me you don't think Stillfront is paying $1200 a month for servers.

Private servers aren't run by Blizzard and your math is terrible.

$1200 per minute also comes out to $51,840,000 per month. To run 1 WoW server. :lol:

[Neveragain]

You realize that's about what Blizzard spends per minute to run one of their servers, right?

Please tell me you don't think Stillfront is paying $1200 a month for servers.

Blizzard currently has roughly 30 million active WOW subscribers if you go by the newest leaked information. I'm not accounting for Stillfronts other projects, just Gemstone. Gemstone could run on that private server cost, easy.

Just admit to yourself that you're paying for special attention.

[Taernath]

I never read any claim to that. I highly doubt he is even involved in that specific a thing.

The error is on whatever GM's shop that was and/or QC.

Like I said, IIRC. Wyrom is heavily involved in DR (maybe moreso in previous iterations) and I remember him saying something similar in a linked official thread.

[Neovik1]

Blizzard currently has roughly 30 million active WOW subscribers if you go by the newest leaked information. I'm not accounting for Stillfronts other projects, just Gemstone. Gemstone could run on that private server cost, easy.

Just admit to yourself that you're paying for special attention.

No way in the world is Stillfront paying any where close to 1200 a month to run the GS server.

[Stumplicker]

No way in the world is Stillfront paying any where close to 1200 a month to run the GS server.

The closest facsimile I was able to find was SWGEmu (the most popular Star Wars Galaxies server). They make all of their costs public because they run on donations. They have an average of 1500 users online at any given time, or did when I got their numbers, and their server costs were around $1700 a month all in, including backups, redundancies, maintenance and the like. Gemstone is very likely less intensive than the code for SWG, as SWG was notoriously a bandwidth hog with inefficient code, not to mention, that server has triple the average simultaneous logins.

[Gelston]

You realize that's about what Blizzard spends per minute to run one of their servers, right?

Please tell me you don't think Stillfront is paying $1200 a month for servers.

You believe Blizzard is paying 600 million a year to run one server? Are you this fucking stupid for real?

[Taernath]

MUDs can be and often are run out of people's basements.

[Gelston]

MUDs can be and often are run out of people's basements.

I looked at renting a server to run a mud once, they wanted like 50 a month.

[Stumplicker]

I looked at renting a server to run a mud once, they wanted like 50 a month.

Highway robbery. You can run a mud for 20-30 people on a basic cable internet connection from your home computer without either the computer or your internet connection breaking a sweat. They even have ports of the most popular codebases where you can just run them from windows now too.

[Taernath]

You believe Blizzard is paying 600 million a year to run one server? Are you this fucking stupid for real?

Closer to 841 million. You'd need multiple gender studies degrees to afford that.

[Gelston]

Highway robbery. You can run a mud for 20-30 people on a basic cable internet connection from your home computer without either the computer or your internet connection breaking a sweat. They even have ports of the most popular codebases where you can just run them from windows now too.

This was in the early 2000s when most people didn't have that.

[Stumplicker]

This was in the early 2000s when most people didn't have that.

Ah, sounds about right for that time period then.

[Methais]

This was in the early 2000s when most people didn't have that.

Stop living in the past Gelston.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to playing my 30 year old text game.

[time4fun]

You believe Blizzard is paying 600 million a year to run one server? Are you this fucking stupid for real?

hyperbole honey. look it up.

They pay about $5m a month per server, I believe.

[Neveragain]

No way in the world is Stillfront paying any where close to 1200 a month to run the GS server.

I totally agree. Couple hundred bucks a month, max.

[Stumplicker]

hyperbole honey. look it up.

They pay about $5m a month per server, I believe.

No, you look it up. You're the one in fantasy land spouting nonsense numbers. Go ahead and link your source. We'll wait while you photoshop your NETWORK+ and MCSA.

[Gelston]

hyperbole honey. look it up.

They pay about $5m a month per server, I believe.

WoW has over 9000 servers around the world. They aren't paying 5m each a month. Again, stop making shit up.

[Astray]

Blizzard has not released this info, and they likely will not. Estimates range from $120,000 - $150,000 per day to keep a WOW server up and running. So a bit under $5,000,000 a month or so is the common inference.

Literally the first thing from google.

[Gelston]

Literally the first thing from google.

Yeah, they're totally paying 45 billion a month to keep servers up.

[Stumplicker]

Literally the first thing from google.

You mean the random nobody who pulled that number out of his ass on quora? Yeah, I also saw that. I just want Vishra to link it as her source.

Edit: and by the way, WoW servers use a shard system now, like many MMOs, meaning it's very difficult to pick out just one server and decide on a cost. They all share the load and interact in ways that allow players to group across servers. Those numbers also spike or wane based on where they are in relation to an expansion release, kind of like how when BFA came out, 150,000 people were watching it on twitch, and now 15,000 are.

The numbers Vishra came up with are pure fantasy. WoW doesn't even release its player counts anymore, much less its operating costs, and hasn't done the former since 2014.

Edit to add: and by the way, all those people running private WoW servers that Blizzard served notices to when they decided they wanted to release Vanilla WoW servers? They were not paying 5 million dollars per month to run them.

[Astray]

Yeah, they're totally paying 45 billion a month to keep servers up.

I doubt that's the actual cost but without released figures, there's nothing but estimates roaming around.

[Gelston]

I doubt that's the actual cost but without released figures, there's nothing but estimates roaming around.

Let me just say if your estimates say 45 billion a month, they are probably wrong.

[Astray]

Let me just say if your estimates say 45 billion a month, they are probably wrong.

Agreed.

[Gelston]

I'd accept 5m a month as maybe all the servers in the US region, but not for a single one.

[Stumplicker]

For someone with 17 fake degrees in gender studies and feminism, she sure sets feminism back a hundred years by consistently being the dumbest person on the face of the planet.

[Neveragain]

You mean the random nobody who pulled that number out of his ass on quora? Yeah, I also saw that. I just want Vishra to link it as her source.

Edit: and by the way, WoW servers use a shard system now, like many MMOs, meaning it's very difficult to pick out just one server and decide on a cost. They all share the load and interact in ways that allow players to group across servers. Those numbers also spike or wane based on where they are in relation to an expansion release, kind of like how when BFA came out, 150,000 people were watching it on twitch, and now 15,000 are.

The numbers Vishra came up with are pure fantasy. WoW doesn't even release its player counts anymore, much less its operating costs, and hasn't done the former since 2014.

Edit to add: and by the way, all those people running private WoW servers that Blizzard served notices to when they decided they wanted to release Vanilla WoW servers? They were not paying 5 million dollars per month to run them.

From the sounds of it they won't be using sharding for Classic. Interesting to note, they are going to have like 20 (maybe it was 40..have to watch video again) servers for the Classic demo at Blizzcon. Sounds like April is the targeted release date.

[Stumplicker]

Found the most recent SWGEmu numbers. Server cost is not all that goes into that $1700 a month. Not sure if you can view the thread without an account, but here's the link.


https://www.swgemu.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207044


Here's a one month snapshot:

July had a starting PayPal account balance of $9,241.35.

In July we received $1,810.00 in donations.

July had the following expenses:

• PayPal fee = $109.59
• K&H Bank = $200.00
• Hosting Services Inc. = $40.00
• FDC Servers.Net LLC = $139.00
• SoftLayer = $1,120.05
• IRCCloud Ltd = $5.00
• GitHub Ltd = $7.00
• RFE Hosting = $93.75

TOTAL EXPENSES = $1,714.39
July had a total excess of $95.61 with a final PayPal account balance of $9,336.96




The rest is long so I put it in a pastebin. https://pastebin.com/86edLAJ8

They have ups and downs month to month based on what bills they have to pay but it looks like it averages out to around that $1700 per month still.

[Methais]

Found the most recent SWGEmu numbers. Server cost is not all that goes into that $1700 a month. Not sure if you can view the thread without an account, but here's the link.


https://www.swgemu.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207044


Here's a one month snapshot:

July had a starting PayPal account balance of $9,241.35.

In July we received $1,810.00 in donations.

July had the following expenses:

• PayPal fee = $109.59
• K&H Bank = $200.00
• Hosting Services Inc. = $40.00
• FDC Servers.Net LLC = $139.00
• SoftLayer = $1,120.05
• IRCCloud Ltd = $5.00
• GitHub Ltd = $7.00
• RFE Hosting = $93.75

TOTAL EXPENSES = $1,714.39
July had a total excess of $95.61 with a final PayPal account balance of $9,336.96




The rest is long so I put it in a pastebin. https://pastebin.com/86edLAJ8

They have ups and downs month to month based on what bills they have to pay but it looks like it averages out to around that $1700 per month still.

I can't take this expense list seriously without fire extinguisher inspections being on there.

[Neveragain]

I can't take this expense list seriously without fire extinguisher inspections being on there.

:lol:

[Taernath]

I can't take this expense list seriously without fire extinguisher inspections being on there.

Maybe that's where the $1600/min figure came from.

[Methais]

Literally the first thing from google.

The first result on Google is where time4fun gets all of her stellar news reporting from. She just usually dresses up her posts with links that look like this (www.goatse.cx) to make it look like she knows what she's talking about.

Anyway back to Earth...

This is from 2008, but still...


Blizzard Entertainment is indisputably making money hand-over-fist with its massively popular online RPG, World of Warcraft. But surely maintaining a game with some 10 million active subscribers worldwide takes a serious bite out of profits?

Not so, according to Blizzard on its Analyst Day conference call on Tuesday. The game maker said it has spent only $200m (~ £110.24m) on upkeep since the game launched in 2004.

That $200m figure apparently includes payroll for the entire staff, hardware support, and customer service. The news comes care of gaming blog Kotaku

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/18/world_of_warcraft_upkeep_200m/

[Gelston]

The first result on Google is where time4fun gets all of her stellar news reporting from. She just usually dresses up her posts with links that look like this (www.goatse.cx) to make it look like she knows what she's talking about.

Anyway back to Earth...

This is from 2008, but still...



https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/18/world_of_warcraft_upkeep_200m/

So basically 50m a year for their entire operation. Even 5m a month for all their servers is too high in that case.

[Methais]

So basically 50m a year for their entire operation. Even 5m a month for all their servers is too high in that case.

Yes. And that includes fire extinguisher inspections.

[time4fun]

The first result on Google is where time4fun gets all of her stellar news reporting from. She just usually dresses up her posts with links that look like this (www.goatse.cx) to make it look like she knows what she's talking about.


God you'd better hope that's not true. Because if it is- then it means it only takes one google search ever to show that you never have any idea of what you're talking about.

[Taernath]

God you'd better hope that's not true. Because if it is- then it means it only takes one google search ever to show that you never have any idea of what you're talking about.

Still waiting on your totally not Quora, totally not first Google hit, totally not It'S cAlLeD hYpErBoLe HoNeY source.

[time4fun]

Still waiting on your totally not Quora, totally not first Google hit, totally not It'S cAlLeD hYpErBoLe HoNeY source.

I don't have the ability to give you common sense.

Clearly.

[Gelston]

I don't have the ability to give you common sense.

Clearly.

Sweet deflection. Just admit you were totally full of shit and move along.

[time4fun]

Sweet deflection. Just admit you were totally full of shit and move along.

Apparently your inability to handle nuance isn't just limited to the politics folder.

Shocking.

[Stumplicker]

I don't have the ability to give you common sense.

Clearly.

Is "common sense" where you decided that it costs 5 million dollars per month to run a single server?

[Astray]

So basically 50m a year for their entire operation. Even 5m a month for all their servers is too high in that case.

I'd also assume that as time went on they'd find a way to mitigate cost for more profits.

[Gelston]

Apparently your inability to handle nuance isn't just limited to the politics folder.

Shocking.

Nuance? You made up some bullshit number, then said oh no, it was hyperbole, then you said another number that was completely wrong. Just admit that you don't fucking know everything for once.

[Stumplicker]

Hyperbole is what they call the space toilet when they jump to light speed.

[Taernath]

Nuance? You made up some bullshit number, then said oh no, it was hyperbole, then you said another number that was completely wrong. Just admit that you don't fucking know everything for once.

She is googling 'how to prove Gelston is stupid' as we speak.

[time4fun]

Nuance? You made up some bullshit number

No genius- I didn't. Neveragain did.

You think I just "happened" to believe that Neveragain's yearly game server estimate was magically the per-minute cost for Blizzard to run its own severs?

Honey, even you're not this stupid.

[Methais]

God you'd better hope that's not true. Because if it is- then it means it only takes one google search ever to show that you never have any idea of what you're talking about.

Feel free to show me the first result on google that says this.

Then feel free to acknowledge that using the first result on Google is exactly what you just did while trying to tell us how things work over at Blizzard despite not even being in the same town much less the same ballpark.

Even cwolff would be like "Yeah I was wrong about those numbers."

Or did your wrong answer just happen to line up exactly with the first result on Google in an astounding coincidence? If this is the case, please let us know.

[Gelston]

No genius- I didn't. Neveragain did.

You think I just "happened" to believe that Neveragain's yearly game server estimate was magically the per-minute cost for Blizzard to run its own severs?

Honey, even you're not this stupid.

Yeah, neither of these are you posting bullshit numbers. Even if we ignore the first one, you still BELIEVED your post on the second one. So no, you are just full of shit.


hyperbole honey. look it up.

They pay about $5m a month per server, I believe.


You realize that's about what Blizzard spends per minute to run one of their servers, right?

Please tell me you don't think Stillfront is paying $1200 a month for servers.

[Stumplicker]

No genius- I didn't. Neveragain did.

You think I just "happened" to believe that Neveragain's yearly game server estimate was magically the per-minute cost for Blizzard to run its own severs?

Honey, even you're not this stupid.


hyperbole honey. look it up.

They pay about $5m a month per server, I believe.

I think the bullshit number he's referring to is right here. And I believe you happen to believe it, because you specifically used the words "I believe".

[time4fun]

Yeah, the first one should have been for "their" server. And it's what they pay in hardware infra costs to keep WoW going.

And I don't know how to explain sarcasm to you, so you'll just have to live with the second one.

I know you're desperate to finally win an argument, but this is sad.

[Astray]

The first result on Google is where time4fun gets all of her stellar news reporting from.

I'm sad this isn't your first google result.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Methais

[Stumplicker]

Jesus, I didn't know why you guys gave her so much shit over the years. I had never really paid attention to what she was saying until she claimed a fake degree in a field I have an actual degree in and was talking out of her ass one night.

I am sorry, and you guys were right.

[Gelston]

Yeah, the first one should have been for "their" server. And it's what they pay in hardware infra costs to keep WoW going.

And I don't know how to explain sarcasm to you, so you'll just have to live with the second one.

I know you're desperate to finally win an argument, but this is sad.

Deflection, deflection, deflection.

[Taernath]

Yeah, neither of these are you posting bullshit numbers. Even if we ignore the first one, you still BELIEVED your post on the second one. So no, you are just full of shit.

FWIW, the only 'source' I can find that claims $5mil/month per server is that idiot on Quora. If she's not getting it from him, I don't know where it's coming from.

[Astray]

FWIW, the only source I can find that claims $5mil/month per server is that idiot on Quora. If she's not getting it from him, I don't know where it's coming from.

Super secret insider information.

[Methais]

Yeah, the first one should have been for "their" server. And it's what they pay in hardware infra costs to keep WoW going.

And I don't know how to explain sarcasm to you, so you'll just have to live with the second one.

I know you're desperate to finally win an argument, but this is sad.

So just to be clear, are you saying you were being sarcastic when you said:


hyperbole honey. look it up.

They pay about $5m a month per server, I believe.

?

[Taernath]

Super secret insider information.

She works for Activision Blizzard in their Gender Studies department.

[Gelston]

She works for Activision Blizzard in their Gender Studies department.

They are expanding gender selection, obviously.

[Astray]

They are expanding gender selection, obviously.

Is Gender Fluid going to be a giant question mark?

[Taernath]

You've heard of Allied Races... get ready for Allied Genders!

[Gelston]

You've heard of Allied Races... but how about Allied Genders?

I heard the female alliance get 25% less loot than the male alliance

[Methais]

You've heard of Allied Races... get ready for Allied Genders!

https://media1.giphy.com/media/X3OOek5ctgr6g/giphy.gif

[Neveragain]

No genius- I didn't. Neveragain did.

You think I just "happened" to believe that Neveragain's yearly game server estimate was magically the per-minute cost for Blizzard to run its own severs?

Honey, even you're not this stupid.

WTF, are you talking about?

I was referencing what it costs to run a private server that is using a larger player base than what GS would ever need. Not once was I comparing Blizzard (let's be honest, Activision) who has around 30 million subscribers for WOW.

You really need to get the SIMU cock out of your mouth so you can pay to be the hero you're not. Your fake kindness is transparent to anyone that has two brain cells to rub together, sweetie.

[Methais]

Edit: and by the way, WoW servers use a shart system now, like many MMOs

GS uses a shart system too. Except with theirs they just shart directly on the players and in return the players give them hundreds/thousands of dollars.

Like this, but with sharts instead of logs.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/images/sony_bullshit_anim4.gif

[Stumplicker]

GS uses a shart system too. Except with theirs they just shart directly on the players and in return the players give them hundreds/thousands of dollars.

Like this, but with sharts instead of logs.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/images/sony_bullshit_anim4.gif

Haha. I knew as soon as I said shard I was gonna have problems.

[Methais]

So just to be clear, are you saying you were being sarcastic when you said:


hyperbole honey. look it up.

They pay about $5m a month per server, I believe.



?

Score another L for time4fun, to go with the 92749285 others in her collection.

[beldannon5]

Okay enough of this spam. Go bid on my items

[Gelston]

Okay enough of this spam. Go bid on my items

This was important conversation.

[beldannon5]

Was it really? Lol

[Methais]

Okay enough of this spam. Go bid on my items

We were just helping your sale stay bumped. What an ingrate!

I’ll bid 10k though.

I also have the 1206 SK sphere from the other thread for the weekend while seller is out of town. I’ll post some clips tomorrow or something if anyone wants any.

[Stumplicker]

You heard him! Highest bidder before sunday gets the other SK 1206 item! I bid 2 mil!

[Astray]

Page 7 is the discussion about WoW server costs that never happened.

Never forget!

[Taernath]

Page 7 is the discussion about WoW server costs that never happened.

Never forget!

What kind of miscreant refers to pages instead of post numbers? The kind that has their posts-per-page set to something obscenely low, I bet.

The '1200-a-minute' claim was made on post 68.

[Astray]

What kind of miscreant refers to pages instead of post numbers? The kind that has their posts-per-page set to something obscenely low, I bet.

The '1200-a-minute' claim was made on post 68.

I'm driving!

[Methais]

Page 7 is the discussion about WoW server costs that never happened.

Never forget!

In all its glory, minus quotes that posts are quoting which make some look weird :lol:


Took a short time to research what it costs for one of the top WOW private servers to run. The best numbers I could find was $1200 a month, this is for two different server instances and the ability to have 10,000+ active player accounts.


You realize that's about what Blizzard spends per minute to run one of their servers, right?

Please tell me you don't think Stillfront is paying $1200 a month for servers.


Private servers aren't run by Blizzard and your math is terrible.

$1200 per minute also comes out to $51,840,000 per month. To run 1 WoW server. :lol:


Blizzard currently has roughly 30 million active WOW subscribers if you go by the newest leaked information. I'm not accounting for Stillfronts other projects, just Gemstone. Gemstone could run on that private server cost, easy.

Just admit to yourself that you're paying for special attention.


You believe Blizzard is paying 600 million a year to run one server? Are you this fucking stupid for real?


Closer to 841 million. You'd need multiple gender studies degrees to afford that.


hyperbole honey. look it up.

They pay about $5m a month per server, I believe.

SO MUCH SARCASM OMG OMG OMG OMG


No, you look it up. You're the one in fantasy land spouting nonsense numbers. Go ahead and link your source. We'll wait while you photoshop your NETWORK+ and MCSA.


WoW has over 9000 servers around the world. They aren't paying 5m each a month. Again, stop making shit up.


Literally the first thing from google.


Yeah, they're totally paying 45 billion a month to keep servers up.


You mean the random nobody who pulled that number out of his ass on quora? Yeah, I also saw that. I just want Vishra to link it as her source.

Edit: and by the way, WoW servers use a shard system now, like many MMOs, meaning it's very difficult to pick out just one server and decide on a cost. They all share the load and interact in ways that allow players to group across servers. Those numbers also spike or wane based on where they are in relation to an expansion release, kind of like how when BFA came out, 150,000 people were watching it on twitch, and now 15,000 are.

The numbers Vishra came up with are pure fantasy. WoW doesn't even release its player counts anymore, much less its operating costs, and hasn't done the former since 2014.

Edit to add: and by the way, all those people running private WoW servers that Blizzard served notices to when they decided they wanted to release Vanilla WoW servers? They were not paying 5 million dollars per month to run them.


I doubt that's the actual cost but without released figures, there's nothing but estimates roaming around.


Let me just say if your estimates say 45 billion a month, they are probably wrong.


Agreed.


I'd accept 5m a month as maybe all the servers in the US region, but not for a single one.


For someone with 17 fake degrees in gender studies and feminism, she sure sets feminism back a hundred years by consistently being the dumbest person on the face of the planet.


The first result on Google is where time4fun gets all of her stellar news reporting from. She just usually dresses up her posts with links that look like this (www.goatse.cx) to make it look like she knows what she's talking about.

Anyway back to Earth...

This is from 2008, but still...



https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/18/world_of_warcraft_upkeep_200m/


So basically 50m a year for their entire operation. Even 5m a month for all their servers is too high in that case.


Yes. And that includes fire extinguisher inspections.


God you'd better hope that's not true. Because if it is- then it means it only takes one google search ever to show that you never have any idea of what you're talking about.


Still waiting on your totally not Quora, totally not first Google hit, totally not It'S cAlLeD hYpErBoLe HoNeY source.


I don't have the ability to give you common sense.

Clearly.


Sweet deflection. Just admit you were totally full of shit and move along.


Apparently your inability to handle nuance isn't just limited to the politics folder.

Shocking.


Is "common sense" where you decided that it costs 5 million dollars per month to run a single server?


I'd also assume that as time went on they'd find a way to mitigate cost for more profits.


Nuance? You made up some bullshit number, then said oh no, it was hyperbole, then you said another number that was completely wrong. Just admit that you don't fucking know everything for once.


She is googling 'how to prove Gelston is stupid' as we speak.


No genius- I didn't. Neveragain did.

You think I just "happened" to believe that Neveragain's yearly game server estimate was magically the per-minute cost for Blizzard to run its own severs?

Honey, even you're not this stupid.


Feel free to show me the first result on google that says this.

Then feel free to acknowledge that using the first result on Google is exactly what you just did while trying to tell us how things work over at Blizzard despite not even being in the same town much less the same ballpark.

Even cwolff would be like "Yeah I was wrong about those numbers."

Or did your wrong answer just happen to line up exactly with the first result on Google in an astounding coincidence? If this is the case, please let us know.


Yeah, neither of these are you posting bullshit numbers. Even if we ignore the first one, you still BELIEVED your post on the second one. So no, you are just full of shit.


I think the bullshit number he's referring to is right here. And I believe you happen to believe it, because you specifically used the words "I believe".


Yeah, the first one should have been for "their" server. And it's what they pay in hardware infra costs to keep WoW going.

And I don't know how to explain sarcasm to you, so you'll just have to live with the second one.

I know you're desperate to finally win an argument, but this is sad.


Jesus, I didn't know why you guys gave her so much shit over the years. I had never really paid attention to what she was saying until she claimed a fake degree in a field I have an actual degree in and was talking out of her ass one night.

I am sorry, and you guys were right.


FWIW, the only 'source' I can find that claims $5mil/month per server is that idiot on Quora. If she's not getting it from him, I don't know where it's coming from.


Super secret insider information.


So just to be clear, are you saying you were being sarcastic when you said:



?


She works for Activision Blizzard in their Gender Studies department.

[Astray]

NEVER HAPPENED METHAIS!

Also, apparently I threatened to kill PK. LOL

[Taernath]

You're doing the Lord's work, Methais.

[Methais]

You're doing the Lord's work, Methais.

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