reijiarisu

Man, did you really have to drag this back up after everyone practically forgot about it? Check the date!

Okay, Jordan brought up something that I also forgot was a reason why not many people work on a private server. While I haven't managed a private server myself (I did take a server management course during my Bachelor's education, though), as far as I've heard from those who have or know those who have, it's pretty much like working a second job. Servers need frequent attention to make sure everything's running optimally and none of the data within them is compromised, so a private server manager has to take time out of their lives to give that attention. This can be either simple or difficult depending on how much time you can devote in the first place, and possibly even your financial status (again, servers and games can be costly to manage and dev for), especially if you're already employed elsewhere. And when real life throws you a curve ball, it frequently nails you right in the face when you least expect it. I know the initial reasoning was the new "official" server (and one or two other things), and that it's likely not a concern anymore. But that doesn't mean that real life can't be a heartless jerk that enjoys finding reasons to make you choose what to give or take. If things have come up that prevent Jordan from managing another server alongside Eden Eternal, and Bash has decided not to start a GF server because of that (and generally lacks the proper resources to manage a 4th game), then I'm personally not going to push them to do it. VGN can start a GF server (or whatever game they choose) when they're comfortable enough to do so. And hey. While the reasons have changed from time to time, for what it's worth, at least they're TRYING to explain why they can't manage a GF server every time people ask why. That, along with their responses to concerns in general, is a MUCH better response than what you can typically expect from your general "official" server publisher. (Their common response? "We will look into it." Which is typically code for, "We'll consider the idea if it lets us milk your wallets dry and then some.")

Bash would have to comment on that, but I wouldn't be surprised if the team's willing to bring new members on board (not entirely sure though, since I didn't join the VGN community until I heard about VGN prior to the Scarlet Blade Aeria server shutdown). However, the issue is that, for one reason or another (legal or otherwise), not many people are usually willing to help manage a private server (or manage one themselves, since servers can be costly at times), and private servers tend to not make a large amount of income (when compared to official servers, at least) due to lacking the means of drawing large crowds. Especially since private servers in general don't have much of a good reputation*, even when taking legal concerns out of the equation. So, generally, private server teams tend to be pretty small; Just large enough that they can manage all of their games simultaneously (assuming they're not managing just one game). So, generally, the gain or loss of even just one member can have a huge impact on a ps team's options. Of course, at the end of the day, even if they get a new person that has the skill and time to manage GFV in Jordan's place, Bash would still need the time to oversee the project to make sure the server gets off the ground and doesn't share TSV's fate (none of us want that again). But as Bash said, GFV just isn't feasible right now with how full their hands are. *You can thank the private servers that are more greedy and cutthroat than official servers for that. I've even heard of at least one private server that performed quite a few scams and underhanded tactics (i.e. selling high-end equipment to players under the table, only to ban some of those players later and silence them) to line their own pockets with money rather than improve their server (which was simply a computer in the server manager's basement, if I recall, with no backups whatsoever. Guess what eventually happened).

Best not to dwell on it longer than necessary. Like I said: train wreck.

They might not have the budget either. At least not a budget that can handle the kind of financial loss that would occur if we had another Twin Saga scenario. I wouldn't be surprised if, even once they get to the point where they have more manpower, they were to be a bit more cautious of which game to pick. Though calling it now: it most likely won't be Dragomon Hunter. That game was a train wreck that was lucky to have survived as long as it did, and I doubt it would last long here either. And I'm not talking about cash shop issues. Not even a better/fairer cash shop would salvage what little the game offered over AK or GF.

Someone would have to correct me since it's been a while since I played, but as far as I'm aware, the official server and current private server are still fairly active. Regardless of how long they have left, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to release an AKV in the foreseeable future. It would have to fight to try to pull members of the population that are likely already cemented in the current versions of AK and aren't likely to give up what they have until one of the current servers shuts down or does something REALLY stupid. And right now, even if the current three games eventually reach the point where they can sustain themselves, it's not really something that VGN wants to endure financially, if Twin Saga Vendetta (a.k.a. the server that had so few people that it started burning a severe hole in the team's pocket) is anything to go by.

Pretty sure people said the same thing about Phantasy Star Online(: Blue Burst), which is much older than GF (we're talking Dreamcast/early Gamecube graphics old). There's still people playing it to this day, and new people joining the BB servers even after 15+ years (more like after 12-13 years, but the 15+ includes the Dreamcast and Gamecube versions). It's not big, but it's definitely got a decent following. Same thing would most likely happen with GFV if there are enough people willing to play a version of GF that will likely be much better handled than it's ever been under Aeria and .it. We'll just have to wait until VGN's current games get the attention they need and the team decides it's time to host another game, and whether or not they decide to pick Grand Fantasia. And whether or not the Siwa server really does suffer a swift and painful death like others feel it will, assuming its presence will also be a factor taken into consideration.

5 gold says that at LEAST half of those "players" were actually bots that wasted no time getting into position to generate fresh illegal gold and find new blood to drain.

Okay, it's clear you're not going to give up on this. Yes, I haven't played Perfect World International, but, for the most part, its "glory days" were during a time when I didn't even have much interest in MMOs in the first place (save for AdventureQuest Worlds since it was created by a developer I already knew about). Hell, I never even TOUCHED a non-browser MMO until around 2011, when I not only had my own laptop but was also interested enough in MMOs to give Dynasty Warriors Online a try (which was a PvP-focused MMO, by the way). And forget PWV 2012. I never even knew about Vendetta until after the Scarlet Blade Aeria shutdown announcement. Still, it's not hard to predict how a PWV server would turn out based on the habits of the other servers and their one-click "I Win" formula. Your admittance that the majority of PW "veterans" (if you can even call them that with how quickly they claim their time and effort was pointless) prefer a server where absolute domination over the entire server is only one click away...well, Bash kinda implied it himself in the post before mine: it kills off the entire point of bring PWV back in the first place. And I won't argue whether or not the official developer fucked up PvE, but if a PWI private server manager really cared about the game, beyond seeing it as a quick cash grab (if cash has any relevance in the first place) or simply making one for shits and giggles, they'd try to find a way to, as I said, fix the original dev's fuck-ups and make the overall game better, rather than just copy-pasting the "I Win" button formula that literally every other PWI private server uses. Those that do the latter won't necessarily be DOA (like PWV would be at this point), but there certainly wouldn't be any reason to stay on any one of them for an extended period of time. Unless you're already in one of the top-tier mass-murdering guilds that has every single open-PvP spawn location in the server by the balls. And patches making previous content mostly irrelevant in the PvP environment? Boy, literally EVERY PvP-focused MMO goes through that in one form or another (and every PvE-focused MMO as well, if new gear makes a big enough impact). It's called "increasing the level cap and/or gear cap" or "changing the meta", both of which have the intended purpose of giving people something that attempts to break the monotony, and there are two things you can do when that happens: either 1) quit and run out of the server, crying like a little baby who lost his favorite toy (something I'm pretty sure your precious PWI "veterans" did when they were no longer top dog on their server), or 2) MAN UP, ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES, PULL UP YOUR SOCKS, AND GET TO WORK! Look at Scarlet Blade Vendetta's current top players. Many of them, if I'm right, had already been top-geared players on the official server for much of its lifetime (despite the costs to maintain that with Aeria's overpriced cash shop), but they didn't regain that same glory here by begging Bash and Vivi to add a 1-click "I Win" button. They saw their goal, knew what they needed to do to reach it despite the time/money required, and got to work reaching that point, even when Vivi and Bash introduced the 59-cap Unique gear from SBK that outclassed the previous Uniques. So in my view, the ASB/SBV veterans have more respect for the work they put into reaching and maintaining their positions in BOTH servers than the PWI "veterans" who would rather throw away their time and effort in one server for a one-click fast track to max stats in another (and wouldn't even give PWV a serious look since Bash wouldn't go for the 1-click route). Though once again, as Bash said, PWV is NEVER coming back, and after what happened to TSV when people complained about it not being like the other TS servers, that decision's not likely to change. Especially since VGN doesn't have the money to host a game that allows for the entire population to freeload (they'd want to have some way for the server to generate its own revenue, and that's not possible if people can get everything for free in one click), and a server like that would drain money from their other games, making it more difficult to manage those. So really, nothing you or I are saying right now even matters at this point. I'm only continuing this because you want to claim that my post is subjective, when your's is just as subjective as mine in the scope of the possibility of a PWV server. Edit: Actually, let me end this right now: if the biggest deal maker/breaker for you would be whether or not you can get everything in one click, then you might as well go back to those PWI private servers you claim are great. Because, again, Bash isn't going to be like those PS manager wannabes, and he'll want to do things properly.

I definitely have to agree with Bash here, especially when factoring in my interactions with other private servers with managers that follow a similar idea for their games (mainly Ephinea: Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe Clementine). Too many people think that the sole purpose of a private server is to give players everything needed to dominate without having to do anything for it (or allow people to spend money to become obscenely powerful, moreso than on official servers). Some private servers do that, yes, but they're pretty much twisted perversions of what they could have been. The pattern that Bash mentioned is the same thing (with variations based on PvP/PvE) that would happen on an official server (and any private server) if you gutted out all of the grinding required to get what you need. There's literally no reason to spend money or grind any of those PW private servers since you get everything so easily, which leaves me surprised that they're even still going. That is NOT how a private server should be ran. If you were to ask me what the purpose of a private server was, I'd point to Scarlet Blade Vendetta and Ephinea PSO as examples for my view; that a private server's proper purpose is to either: A) maintain as much of the original feel of a game as possible (even potential grind, albeit scaled down some if too severe), but fix as many issues as possible and make the PvE/PvP environment more fair/less P2W in light of a dev/publisher's fuck-ups (SBV is definitely a good example of this; being less costly overall than Aeria SB (and not having so many enhancement items locked entirely behind a paywall), and addressing a few things that LivePlex didn't bother to fix), or B) bring back a game that was dropped entirely by its developer to give it a second chance, preferably with the aspects of point A. Ephinea PSO and Phantasy Star Universe Clementine both fulfill the first half (all for Ephinea when considering the other servers have cash-only advantages, and one in particular has an overpowered Ultimate difficulty that makes cash advantages a necessity), while SBV fulfills all of point B (since even the Korean version of SB was dropped afaik). If Bash were to do another PWV server, he'd definitely want to fulfill point A and try to have a server that gives a fair experience to both PvE and PvP players without making the game a brainless one-click "I Win" snorefest like the other servers. Problem is: there's such an oversaturation of "EZ Mode" PWI servers that everyone's practically HOOKED on the concept, to the point where a PWV server would pretty much be dead before Bash even started working on it. That being said, with the exception of making a PWI server for himself and a small handful of friends/acquaintances, the time, effort, and money required for a public PWV server would be better put towards a more promising project.

Pretty much this, and I have no idea how many times we'll have to repeat this. Begging won't get the current three games to a self-sustaining state any faster, and a fourth game is out of the question until they reach that point. Just be patient and wait for Bash to bring more news concerning the situation.

Question (since I never really touched purple items in GF): do purple items ALSO come with natural life-steal like Nocturnal weapons in Aura Kingdom? Having full +20-+30 DPS armor/accessories and Nocturnal weapons in AK means you can pretty much solo most if not every party dungeon with literally ANY class. Moreso with the OP Class of the Year. Killed off a lot of interest towards late-endgame grinding, since I knew that there would be NO party-based challenge at all by that point. And I gotta agree with RavenSS. I tried a bit of Mechanic when I first returned to GF Aeria, and I didn't really get through the early parts much faster than with the original classes. Especially since some of the Mechanic's skills DO require resource management (not just MP management) to make sure you can use them regularly (especially if you're fighting a boss and can't just leave the battle to recharge and instead have to find the right time to do so). Can't exactly say how mid/late-game is since I didn't get that far with Mechanic before going back to my mains, but considering that I couldn't really burst through entire areas/quests or fight multiple enemies at once (or bosses) without dropping below 50% HP and having to heal early game (even with a good skill rotation), it's safe to say that Mechanic isn't that much more powerful compared to the other classes. For PvP, I wouldn't be surprised if it more depends on your skill/gear setup and how you approach either Mechanic specialization.

I'd be cautious about those kinds of claims, especially if it's a number that large (for support for a private server, no less). Even if it's true that he gathered 53 people, how many of those are going to stay longer than a month after they realize they'll have to regrind everything they had (something that caused a few Scarlet Blade Aeria players/veterans to not come to SBV)? This is especially true if we're talking about people who spent hundreds or thousands of dollars to achieve "top player" status. Doubt those people would be quick to give up that power, or even willing to actually grind to regain the power they left behind/lost. And don't get me started on those who play purely for nostalgia's sake with no real goal in mind. I already explained how THAT usually ends.

Well, not quite. It's something the team's considering, but they want to make sure their current games will be fine on their own first. They just don't have the luxury to put so much time into a 4th game right now after Twin Saga ended up failing. Not until they're sure that, at the very least, NosTale won't go under if they temporarily devote less time/attention towards it to start up a GFV server, and it might still be a good few months before NosTale reaches that point.

Yeah. There are those that want the game back (pretty sure even over a GF PS), and as mentioned above see that time as Vendetta's "Golden Age". But like Bash said, the only reason some want PWV back is one of the reasons I'd like a DWO Vendetta server: nostalgia (though that's only ONE reason for me. The other is to enjoy a fresh start (and possibly try to reach a higher rank than I had on the official server (and/or main a different weapon from the start)) with a team that will actually manage the game properly and do their best to keep it enjoyable). Unfortunately, bringing back a dead game for nostalgia's sake, while nice, wouldn't really have much impact in the long run. It's why all of the Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst servers, even on their good days, don't usually go anywhere above 150 players, and don't often go over even 100 regularly. Only dedicated PSO players stick around long after clearing everything on Ultimate, and those who were there purely for nostalgia's sake already quit in favor of other games. The reason for this kind of behavior? Those that play a game with only nostalgia on their mind sooner or later come to the realization that they're not actually reliving the memories and events they remember. All they're doing the entire time is trying to fill that void that was created when they first dropped/lost the game they knew and loved. That old spark from playing the game the first time just isn't there. Furthermore, because their only reason for playing again was nostalgia, they have no real goal to aim for in the long run, and simply lose the will to play again. And I know this personally, because I tend to encounter that same feeling when I play any of my old Gamecube games (or games I used to play in general), unless I set a new goal for myself (such as raising a silver chao in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle that I managed to get when I FINALLY got my hands on a GBA and cable thanks to a friend (could only borrow them, though). Not the same as raising your first chao, but still a nice opportunity since there's no other way to get jewel chao in SA2B). Good memories aren't a bad thing, but good memories alone aren't going to help a resurrected game live for more than 1/2-1 year at best if there's no other reason to play. Pretty sure most people who played PWV have already completed most, if not all of what the game/server had to provide, and likely wouldn't have any real goals to aim for outside of trying to relive "the Golden Age". Oh, and we're technically necro'ing a thread, so...yeah. I've said everything I wanted to say here.