Is Anyone Else Getting Worried/Nervous About the Subscriber-base/Population?

Cambios · 10-16-2009, 10:01 PM

Let me start off by saying I really enjoy the game. I have been recruiting friends as much as possible and even got my wife to finally subscribe 2 weeks ago.

But the last few weeks have been BRUTAL for CO population, and I am getting really nervous. My SG has had at least 30+ people /cancel their subscriptions in the last month. Worse than that, the server itself is just dead.

Here's an example.

At primetime on a Thursday (9pm EST, so 6pm PST... about as close to a universal prime time as possible), I went to all the zones in the game to add up the total number of users.

Canada: 739
Desert: 529
Millenium City: 883
Monster Island: 178
Lemuria: 71

That's a total of 2,400.

Now, maybe another 25% were inside missions or instances. That takes it up to 3,000.

Generally in MMOs, your total userbase is about 5 to 10 times your peak usage number.

That puts Champions Online's total subscriber base between 15,000 and 30,000.

As someone who likes the game, this makes me VERY nervous about its future. If this is super off, then I'd really like some official numbers on sales or subscriptions to be released that would allay those concerns.

Is anyone else worried about this?

That m

Chat · 10-16-2009, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cambios

Thursday

Here is a minor problem.

Try during a weekend instead. Middle of or close enough a week is not the best time to actually "check" on the population.

OTSmithers · 10-16-2009, 10:06 PM

Not worried because I am already cancelled.

In my mind this is really very simple: I am tired of unimaginative, pointless, dumbed-down, single-player MMO's. But clearly the devs here disagree. And that's fine, but it's not fun for me and, I suspect, for a lot of other people.

Nogitsune · 10-16-2009, 10:07 PM

eh, I don't see why to worry, that's for Cryptic, I play as long as I have fun. I want to see the game accessible but I don't want a WoW cesspool.

MattMinus · 10-16-2009, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cambios

Let me start off by saying I really enjoy the game. I have been recruiting friends as much as possible and even got my wife to finally subscribe 2 weeks ago.

But the last few weeks have been BRUTAL for CO population, and I am getting really nervous. My SG has had at least 30+ people /cancel their subscriptions in the last month. Worse than that, the server itself is just dead.

Here's an example.

At primetime on a Thursday (9pm EST, so 6pm PST... about as close to a universal prime time as possible), I went to all the zones in the game to add up the total number of users.

Canada: 739
Desert: 529
Millenium City: 883
Monster Island: 178
Lemuria: 71

That's a total of 2,400.

Now, maybe another 25% were inside missions or instances. That takes it up to 3,000.

Generally in MMOs, your total userbase is about 5 to 10 times your peak usage number.

That puts Champions Online's total subscriber base between 15,000 and 30,000.

As someone who likes the game, this makes me VERY nervous about its future. If this is super off, then I'd really like some official numbers on sales or subscriptions to be released that would allay those concerns.

Is anyone else worried about this?

That m

How do you account for the populations we saw when the large zone bug was in effect? If those numbers were accurate, the subscriber base looks very healthy.

Polarity-Shift · 10-16-2009, 10:12 PM

I'm not worried at all. Heck, even if Champions isn't doing well, Cryptic's not going to shut it down until after Star Trek Online comes out, else this game's failing would be a death knell for that game. And I don't even think that's the case. My supergroup keeps getting bigger and bigger, and I never see a lack of players in any area I go to. Heck, the tutorial alone usually has several hundred.

Bisonberg · 10-16-2009, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattMinus

How do you account for the populations we saw when the large zone bug was in effect? If those numbers were accurate, the subscriber base looks very healthy.

I'm not going to agree or disagree with the OP, but I'm pretty sure the devs said that the numbers displayed by those bugs were wildly inaccurate.

OTSmithers · 10-16-2009, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chat

Here is a minor problem.

Try during a weekend instead. Middle of or close enough a week is not the best time to actually "check" on the population.

It's good enough to give a rough idea.

Let's put that number into perspective. It's 12 midnight Texas time right now. Dark Age of Camelot currently has 2,859 north american players online. At midnight. A game that launched 8 years ago and NEVER had more than 250K subscribers (and currently has fewer than 50K) has more people online ay midnight than CO has at prime time.

Problem? Obviously. If these online numbers are accurate then CO is is serious trouble.

Perfect_Pain · 10-16-2009, 10:15 PM

When the large zone bug happened - because we are so used to 30-70 people being on a server 500 people seemed like alot...
but its not really...

Even on a packed day on a weekend theres still only about 5 Monster Islands.

This game is not rocket science, its not hard to follow your contacts around and get exp...
I am tired of people acting like if you play for 2 hours a day you are giving your whole life to the game.

If you play 2 hours a day on the same character everyday You will be max level in about 9 days...
Its not that hard...

This game should have like 30 or 40 instances of Monster Island at this point DAILY... and about 20-30 Lemurias... and double that for the lower zones...

THAT would make people feel at ease. Then people would have a sense of pride in this game, and be all ingame playing instead of reading other peoples stuff on the forums.

Chat · 10-16-2009, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OTSmithers

It's good enough to give a rough idea.

Let's put that number into perspective. It's 12 midnight Texas time right now. Dark Age of Camelot currently has 2,859 north american players online. At midnight. A game that launched 8 years ago and NEVER had more than 250K subscribers (and currently has fewer than 50K) has more people online ay midnight than CO has at prime time.

Problem? Obviously. If these online numbers are accurate then CO is is serious trouble.

But a smaller part of the population plays during the week. And not everyone plays during the prime time.

So like I said... A minor problem.

10-16-2009, 10:01 PM	#1
Cambios Champion Join Date: Apr 2009	Is Anyone Else Getting Worried/Nervous About the Subscriber-base/Population? Let me start off by saying I really enjoy the game. I have been recruiting friends as much as possible and even got my wife to finally subscribe 2 weeks ago. But the last few weeks have been BRUTAL for CO population, and I am getting really nervous. My SG has had at least 30+ people /cancel their subscriptions in the last month. Worse than that, the server itself is just dead. Here's an example. At primetime on a Thursday (9pm EST, so 6pm PST... about as close to a universal prime time as possible), I went to all the zones in the game to add up the total number of users. Canada: 739 Desert: 529 Millenium City: 883 Monster Island: 178 Lemuria: 71 That's a total of 2,400. Now, maybe another 25% were inside missions or instances. That takes it up to 3,000. Generally in MMOs, your total userbase is about 5 to 10 times your peak usage number. That puts Champions Online's total subscriber base between 15,000 and 30,000. As someone who likes the game, this makes me VERY nervous about its future. If this is super off, then I'd really like some official numbers on sales or subscriptions to be released that would allay those concerns. Is anyone else worried about this? That m __________________ Ultimate Guide to Champions Online - Guides, Articles, and More Threshold RPG - Our World, Your Imagination - http://www.thresholdrpg.com Muckbeast - Game Design and MMO Blog

10-16-2009, 10:06 PM	#3
OTSmithers Champion Join Date: Sep 2009	Not worried because I am already cancelled. In my mind this is really very simple: I am tired of unimaginative, pointless, dumbed-down, single-player MMO's. But clearly the devs here disagree. And that's fine, but it's not fun for me and, I suspect, for a lot of other people. __________________ You are pure evil, and hate personified. You don't care anything about your fellow man, and are guided only by your desire to rule over your inferiors, i.e. everybody but you. 'Mercy,' you ask, prior to grinding an enemy beneath your mighty heel, 'What is mercy?' Take the quiz!

10-16-2009, 10:07 PM	#4
Nogitsune Champion Join Date: Jul 2009	eh, I don't see why to worry, that's for Cryptic, I play as long as I have fun. I want to see the game accessible but I don't want a WoW cesspool. __________________ You walk a mystical path, and are a creature of the spiritual and the supernatural. You are introspective and self-reliant, but nobody will ever question your bravery or commitment to justice. Take the quiz!

10-16-2009, 10:12 PM	#6
Polarity-Shift Champion Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: North Carolina	I'm not worried at all. Heck, even if Champions isn't doing well, Cryptic's not going to shut it down until after Star Trek Online comes out, else this game's failing would be a death knell for that game. And I don't even think that's the case. My supergroup keeps getting bigger and bigger, and I never see a lack of players in any area I go to. Heck, the tutorial alone usually has several hundred. __________________ At this point, if someone at Cryptic were to post that the sky in the game is blue, I'd log in fully expecting to have to pay $5 in the C-Store to unlock the sky (which would actually be neon green and slated for a nerf in an upcoming patch that would also make keyboards stop working)

10-16-2009, 10:15 PM	#9
Perfect_Pain Champion Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Small corner of Heaven	When the large zone bug happened - because we are so used to 30-70 people being on a server 500 people seemed like alot... but its not really... Even on a packed day on a weekend theres still only about 5 Monster Islands. This game is not rocket science, its not hard to follow your contacts around and get exp... I am tired of people acting like if you play for 2 hours a day you are giving your whole life to the game. If you play 2 hours a day on the same character everyday You will be max level in about 9 days... Its not that hard... This game should have like 30 or 40 instances of Monster Island at this point DAILY... and about 20-30 Lemurias... and double that for the lower zones... THAT would make people feel at ease. Then people would have a sense of pride in this game, and be all ingame playing instead of reading other peoples stuff on the forums. __________________ ....... Punch My Brute in the Eye? ....... Make My City grow? .......