Current SRO Community Status after almost a month

[MKNocivo]

Originally Posted by pushedx

In my opinion, Silkroad is still fine. When it comes to the pserver scene, what we are seeing right now is to be expected after files were released; a bunch of people rushing to setup servers for short term pleasantries. There is nothing wrong with that, as for a lot of people, they finally get to enjoy Silkroad how they want to, even if that entails unrealistically high rates and free silk items. Those servers will naturally keep on popping up and disappearing just as fast as they came, since no real investment is being made with them. The same was true with the emulators (SSE and SREMU) in the past.

The root issue you are alluding to is "where are the quality servers that stand out from the rest"? You won't see any of those for a while. There are three main reasons why.

The first is time. It has only been one month since the files have been released. One month is a very, very short time span in regards to a pserver. Even for a person like me, who has been working non-stop the past month learning the files, reversing stuff, and writing tools, I'm nowhere close to being where I want to in understanding the server files. There's literally years worth of research and knowledge to be gained from the files and people are only scratching the surface right now when it comes to setting up new servers. As a result, all the servers look and feel the same right now because only the simplest things have been changed. Very few people are actually taking the time to look into real advancements with the files as opposed to just trying to setup a server and profit from it.

Truly unique servers that really stand out from what is out there now are a long ways away as a result. Simply put, the files have not been available long enough. This leads to the second reason and that's skills. There are very few people around nowadays in the Silkroad community that possess all the skills needed to really develop the tools and do the work needed for pservers. Since the files release was public though, this might change in time with people from other sites and other games taking an interest in Silkroad, but that once again, this requires time. I would expect more people with more skills come around in the future, especially from RZ. However, it is such a huge time, money, and skill investment, the rewards might not be worth it to most with a lot of new games coming out soon that will have markets 10x+ larger than Silkroads (Diablo 3, MW3, BF3, Skyrim, GW2, SWTOR, etc...). What real incentive is there for people to come to Silkroad when there's a lot of more profitable ventures available?

Given what we have now talent wise from the community, the final reason why we won't see anything special for a while is because of a lack of understanding about literally everything that is going on right now. Back when ecsro was the only pserver around, they could get away with anything because they were the only one with files. The same was true for zszc. When elitesro came around, they too could get away with anything from having exclusiveness of modern files. Since everyone has VSRO files now, the same approaches that worked in the past for ecsro and esro will no longer work, but people fail to understand that.

If you simply want to setup a stock server with changed rates and no real changes to the files or custom content, there is no way you will be able to survive in the long run from "donations". Reason be, there's nothing you can offer that someone else won't be able to offer in a better way for cheaper. Unless you are willing to spend money to operate such a server with no real intent on making money from it, i.e. you aren't looking to make money from it at all, there's little these servers can do for the long run to stay alive.

For the short term, some of the current servers can stay profitable due to having the right types of people aboard. Servers that can pull in large guilds and people with a lot of friends that play who all want to play together on something stable server wise, solid support wise, and not absurd rates wise do stand to be able to get their fair share of donations since a lot of people don't want to spend money on corrupt or greedy servers. However, this is not a long term strategy and as people server hop, these types of servers will hurt the most as people leave.

As a result, the community ends up with the types of servers we have right now, mostly everyone trying to take a piece of the pie for themself. Any servers which have long term ambitions and true aspirations of quality while providing something new as well as old to users have to spend a lot of time and resources upfront doing the necessary planning, research, and development at levels none of the existing servers have been willing to show. That is not to say there aren't people out there who are taking the time and really going through it, but for anything like that, it's going to take some time before you actually see it available. Most people simply don't have the patience for it and only care about the "now" and not the "later".

Anyways, getting back to your question, will the SRO era come to an end? No, time after time, Silkroad has shown its resiliency and it's not going away any time soon. Will the pserver scene improve to what people really hope for? That's another question that only time will tell. At this point, I don't think things can get "worse", but only better. How much better, I'm not sure yet, but I think there's a lot of opportunity awaiting for those willing to really work for it.

tl;dr
resume oqe

[PortalDark]

Originally Posted by FoxRayz

I've never claimed that you said that.

I just mentioned that the community is dead here, because of all the new servers. It's not the same connection to other users as you had here before when only swsro,mysro,sjsro,zszc existed. It was a complete different community from what it is today.

I'm also happy that the files got leaked but like some guys have already stated, the best servers will stay up. Just wait a couple of months and you'll see.

in 3 months we will see which server will still be there

[jlfbalo]

Silkroad wont die thats for sure, people here is spread... Theres some ppl that wants 110 instant server to pvp (this ppl will get bored soon after testing all the chars and then start a normal server), people that wants x9999999999 exp (this is almost as getting 110 instant with the only difference you gotta get set and stuff), and ppl that wants normal rates to play... Soon or later just the strong servers will remain (maybe 3-10 in my oppinion) maybe a little more in the future...

The only thing i dont really understand here is how is it possible that 1 month aafter files got released, and after all the threads/videos and stuff posted about zszc scams/corruption and **** theres still:

ZSZC Server Info
Server Name Players State % Status
Total Capacity 5878 / 9400 [62%]
ZSZC (Earth) 2000 / 2000 Full 100% Online
ZSZC (Water) 2000 / 2000 Full 100% Online
ZSZC (Retro) 26 / 400 Easy 6% Online
Aurora 851 / 2000 Easy 42% Online

Almost 5k players online on those servers... i just dont get it...

[Bioman]

jlfbalo,you should tell like this - Almost 5k bots online on those servers...Thats sound better.

[PortalDark]

Originally Posted by Bioman

jlfbalo,you should tell like this - Almost 5k bots online on those servers...Thats sound better.

5k on pserver = more slots on iSRO
@topic
once again, im not saying is gonna die
but is slowly rooting, until something new comes(new Arab race for example)

[[H2K] ^ LordyK]

Originally Posted by jlfbalo

Silkroad wont die thats for sure, people here is spread... Theres some ppl that wants 110 instant server to pvp (this ppl will get bored soon after testing all the chars and then start a normal server), people that wants x9999999999 exp (this is almost as getting 110 instant with the only difference you gotta get set and stuff), and ppl that wants normal rates to play... Soon or later just the strong servers will remain (maybe 3-10 in my oppinion) maybe a little more in the future...

The only thing i dont really understand here is how is it possible that 1 month aafter files got released, and after all the threads/videos and stuff posted about zszc scams/corruption and **** theres still:

ZSZC Server Info
Server Name Players State % Status
Total Capacity 5878 / 9400 [62%]
ZSZC (Earth) 2000 / 2000 Full 100% Online
ZSZC (Water) 2000 / 2000 Full 100% Online
ZSZC (Retro) 26 / 400 Easy 6% Online
Aurora 851 / 2000 Easy 42% Online

Almost 5k players online on those servers... i just dont get it...

let me clear for you , sro community is not just epvp , if you wondering why they have players is simple : they have own people and you can't change that even if you come with new race and new items

and silkroad won't die , because epvp silkroad players are guys who play on pvp servers that don't mean sro community sux , only epvp sro community sux ...

[PortalDark]

Originally Posted by [H2K] ^ LordyK

let me clear for you , sro community is not just epvp , if you wondering why they have players is simple : they have own people and you can't change that even if you come with new race and new items

and silkroad won't die , because epvp silkroad players are guys who play on pvp servers that don't mean sro community sux , only epvp sro community sux ...

i think you got the point of my thread

[WeeMan1337]

@pushedx
Are you Drew's ghost? Did he die?

[smedheaddk]

@pushedx

Completely agree with the post and this is evident in other games, the strong and smart who think about long term more than short term and making a few $s is the ones who will survive. Players do get bored and there isn't one server out there atm who has considered this and is why players will bounce from server to server until this is offered.

[xavi]

Don't forget Joymax! The higher you go, the harder you fall.

[[B]ase[J]umP]

cool story brah.

[kobi92]

hmm...

[iRaQiMafia]

Originally Posted by pushedx

In my opinion, Silkroad is still fine. When it comes to the pserver scene, what we are seeing right now is to be expected after files were released; a bunch of people rushing to setup servers for short term pleasantries. There is nothing wrong with that, as for a lot of people, they finally get to enjoy Silkroad how they want to, even if that entails unrealistically high rates and free silk items. Those servers will naturally keep on popping up and disappearing just as fast as they came, since no real investment is being made with them. The same was true with the emulators (SSE and SREMU) in the past.

The root issue you are alluding to is "where are the quality servers that stand out from the rest"? You won't see any of those for a while. There are three main reasons why.

The first is time. It has only been one month since the files have been released. One month is a very, very short time span in regards to a pserver. Even for a person like me, who has been working non-stop the past month learning the files, reversing stuff, and writing tools, I'm nowhere close to being where I want to in understanding the server files. There's literally years worth of research and knowledge to be gained from the files and people are only scratching the surface right now when it comes to setting up new servers. As a result, all the servers look and feel the same right now because only the simplest things have been changed. Very few people are actually taking the time to look into real advancements with the files as opposed to just trying to setup a server and profit from it.

Truly unique servers that really stand out from what is out there now are a long ways away as a result. Simply put, the files have not been available long enough. This leads to the second reason and that's skills. There are very few people around nowadays in the Silkroad community that possess all the skills needed to really develop the tools and do the work needed for pservers. Since the files release was public though, this might change in time with people from other sites and other games taking an interest in Silkroad, but that once again, this requires time. I would expect more people with more skills come around in the future, especially from RZ. However, it is such a huge time, money, and skill investment, the rewards might not be worth it to most with a lot of new games coming out soon that will have markets 10x+ larger than Silkroads (Diablo 3, MW3, BF3, Skyrim, GW2, SWTOR, etc...). What real incentive is there for people to come to Silkroad when there's a lot of more profitable ventures available?

Given what we have now talent wise from the community, the final reason why we won't see anything special for a while is because of a lack of understanding about literally everything that is going on right now. Back when ecsro was the only pserver around, they could get away with anything because they were the only one with files. The same was true for zszc. When elitesro came around, they too could get away with anything from having exclusiveness of modern files. Since everyone has VSRO files now, the same approaches that worked in the past for ecsro and esro will no longer work, but people fail to understand that.

If you simply want to setup a stock server with changed rates and no real changes to the files or custom content, there is no way you will be able to survive in the long run from "donations". Reason be, there's nothing you can offer that someone else won't be able to offer in a better way for cheaper. Unless you are willing to spend money to operate such a server with no real intent on making money from it, i.e. you aren't looking to make money from it at all, there's little these servers can do for the long run to stay alive.

For the short term, some of the current servers can stay profitable due to having the right types of people aboard. Servers that can pull in large guilds and people with a lot of friends that play who all want to play together on something stable server wise, solid support wise, and not absurd rates wise do stand to be able to get their fair share of donations since a lot of people don't want to spend money on corrupt or greedy servers. However, this is not a long term strategy and as people server hop, these types of servers will hurt the most as people leave.

As a result, the community ends up with the types of servers we have right now, mostly everyone trying to take a piece of the pie for themself. Any servers which have long term ambitions and true aspirations of quality while providing something new as well as old to users have to spend a lot of time and resources upfront doing the necessary planning, research, and development at levels none of the existing servers have been willing to show. That is not to say there aren't people out there who are taking the time and really going through it, but for anything like that, it's going to take some time before you actually see it available. Most people simply don't have the patience for it and only care about the "now" and not the "later".

Anyways, getting back to your question, will the SRO era come to an end? No, time after time, Silkroad has shown its resiliency and it's not going away any time soon. Will the pserver scene improve to what people really hope for? That's another question that only time will tell. At this point, I don't think things can get "worse", but only better. How much better, I'm not sure yet, but I think there's a lot of opportunity awaiting for those willing to really work for it.

oh may gawd you expect me to read this all? XD!

[kobi92]

Originally Posted by LastThief

strongest servers will survive

Sorry but i've to disagree with you totally, Strongest servers wont survive... the most rated servers will survive !
Seems like Silkroad Online lost his quality aswell, lemme give you an explanation by ex.
Only 100x rates's and higher servers have Populated ~ Crowded servers ...
If you have MidRate and stable server you wont gain any players.. its just like selling stores in real life.. once one store of clothes will make 50% free event all others must lower the prices... same for SRO pservers.. Dropdead broken everyone by setting 400x rates so everyone else must do the same so they wont lose players, this called losing quality, everyone loves getting max level in 2 days.. but hey where's the challenge in it? Silkroad online lost his Main point of view.. I remember in isro cap 70.. who was Lv70 was the king.. now every fucking noob doesnt need to know anything about the sro gameplay and he could get MAX LEVEL aswell !
So :

Originally Posted by PortalDark

But to conclude with this, I have to ask
SRO on free-fall?

I would say, precisely unknown but seems to be, yeah.

Which takes us to the following: ->
----------------------------------------------------------
Now, let's talk about the money after all we can't ignore that strongest material.
The statics says this formule: 20% of the server population buys atleast 10$ for silks monthly..
Let's say for ex. that I'm some randomal server's owner.. incase to get crowded server what should i do ? staying with low and stable rates? obviouse answer: NO ! incase to have 2000 players in my server i must compit by increasing the rates since I HAVE NO CHOICE !
so this is my celculation: 20% of 2000 players = 200, 10% a month X 200 players = 2,000 USD a month and thats the minimal profit .. the Middle celculation shows that you can even reach 10,000 USD a monthly for each 2k capacity server !
And that gonna cause alot of issues, 90% of the servers gonna compit for sure.. SRO Community gonna die by getting bored of max level there wont be any challenge so about the "Strongest servers will survive" i must say that its not like WoW pservers.
But there's still another option: Maybe the "High rates servers's wave will end" and if that gonna happen than the strongest servers will survive.. till then will be just a total CHAOS !


And I emphasize ! my comment it's about the shorter term than pushedx's comment.

Greetings, Kobi.

[TheOxide]

Originally Posted by jlfbalo

Silkroad wont die thats for sure, people here is spread... Theres some ppl that wants 110 instant server to pvp (this ppl will get bored soon after testing all the chars and then start a normal server), people that wants x9999999999 exp (this is almost as getting 110 instant with the only difference you gotta get set and stuff), and ppl that wants normal rates to play... Soon or later just the strong servers will remain (maybe 3-10 in my oppinion) maybe a little more in the future...

The only thing i dont really understand here is how is it possible that 1 month aafter files got released, and after all the threads/videos and stuff posted about zszc scams/corruption and **** theres still:

ZSZC Server Info
Server Name Players State % Status
Total Capacity 5878 / 9400 [62%]
ZSZC (Earth) 2000 / 2000 Full 100% Online
ZSZC (Water) 2000 / 2000 Full 100% Online
ZSZC (Retro) 26 / 400 Easy 6% Online
Aurora 851 / 2000 Easy 42% Online

Almost 5k players online on those servers... i just dont get it...

ZSZC has those players because they the real team actually. They make their survive for a long time. How many servers do you know that is online for longer time than ZSZC? Also they earn the most money after EliteSro(Not sure about it but EliteSro earned too much money in short time). Because they do it not for fun or tasting being a GM. They do it for money. Every servers around whose team is full of newbies will close in few months. Only a few of them will be online next year.