Kronos Monthly Checkup - Population & Bugs

Greetings everyone, and welcome to the first issue of what will hopefully become a regular monthly update about the realm's overall situation of players and bugs.




In fact, although TwinHead and the bugtracker provide a huge lot of information, and third-party sites like Kronos-census.com and Kronos-logs.com do nicely their job, nothing was there that would keep track of how the realm population and content actually evolve through time... until now, when I decided I might take care of that myself, and share what I gathered over the previous months since Kronos launched.

More specifically, Kronos-census.com only shows population data over a 3-day span, whereas the bugtracker has no built-in history whatsoever. Being able to see the larger picture is as informative, I believe, and an unvaluable tool to help foresee where Kronos is going, and plan out possible strategies if needed. From now on, we won't have to guess at numbers anymore, and this is exactly where this thread comes into place: to complete those services where they're currently lacking. I kept things as simple as possible, as I'm sure most of you can't be bothered with walls of text and numbers too much, and just want to be able to see what's happening at a quick glance; hence why I'll use graphs and simple tables to submit my data in a user-friendly fashion.

Not only that, though: I'm also explaining how data are handled and what every figure means. Enjoy!

Daily peaks (November) and - hear ye hear ye - Population History!

The following image shows everyday's peak population over the past month (November).

NOTE: "Peak" is meant as the most characters found online at the same time - as detected by hourly censuses on Kronos-census.com - regardless of faction (it's not the total of the two distinct faction peaks, which could happen at different times of day).


The following graph shows the trend of monthly average peaks since Kronos launch (28.3.2015).
X-axis: time progression (months); y-axis: online characters.


Quality Improvement & Bugfixing

This is supposed to provide a simpler yet more accurate overview than the graphs appearing at the bottom of the Kronos bugtracker. More accurate since all issues marked as Won't Fix, Duplicate, Not a Bug and Canceled are left out: being that they only end up altering final percentages while not being really relevant, they can be safely disregarded.


Bottom line: population is decreasing very slowly, yet the same applies to bugs.

Thanks for reading, see you on the next update!

If I could mark posts as cool, damn sure I'd do so on this one.

Great work Moradin! For all the Kronos haters out there!

Thanks for this comprehensive report. I have to admit that I thought that population numbers already were looking worse. Lets hope for a high quality ZG release because this really helps to kick start new guilds which makes it easier for new players that ding 60 to find a guild and keep them motivated.

Population isn't dramatic, I just don't like the declining trend. Isn't there a way to promote the realm more cause it really deserves ist community and servers state wise.

Aurigon, I've always enjoyed your post but kudos to you for taking the time to do this.

someone give this guy community staff status!

This is a really really good post. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

It is a bit worrysome that the population is decreasing albeit slowly. This server deserves a really high population and my mind boggles by the fact that people arent flooding here.

Maybe if the staff is not taking things into their hands we have to - just as aurigon did with this post - take matters into our own hands and promote the server.

Moradin you are a Kronos hero! :thumbup1:

My guild has lost so many due to the razor thin battleground populations.

Great post, hopefully there will be some returning and new players (which is probably more important than returning players truth to be told, as returning players doesn't really help increasing the community) with the release of Zul'Gurub.

DarkStorm said:

This is a really really good post. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

It is a bit worrysome that the population is decreasing albeit slowly. This server deserves a really high population and my mind boggles by the fact that people arent flooding here.

Maybe if the staff is not taking things into their hands we have to - just as aurigon did with this post - take matters into our own hands and promote the server.

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I might be completely wrong and I don't mean to put blame on anyone in particular, but I've had the feeling that there's been a slight arrogance towards the population numbers by some part of the community, that the superiority of the scripting alone will be enough to bring people into the fold and those that doesn't understand that and play on other servers are stupid and we don't want them anyway.

I think that a few things that could be easily done is, if you're commenting on a private server video on youtube, you can always mention Kronos (well you can comment even if you just intended to watch). The same could be said for keeping certain private server reviews on the top of the search list by commenting and thumbing up. The same goes for comments on said videos just to make sure that they're somewhat close to the ones being shown at the top.

A problem is that the world today is based on numbers, meaning that something that already has great numbers will continue to increase in numbers for the fact that the numbers point in that direction. But numbers doesn't really mean anything, just take reviews that are scale based - a five or a ten doesn't mean shit if it's acompanied by a well written and balanced review, but still a ten will be seen as a good thing even though there's nothing that verifies that it has in fact earned that. The same goes for anything else, if you have a large portion of a population, you have more potential for upvoting and downvoting things that speak for you or against you. So by default more people means you "win" more often, out of sheer numbers. But you can always try to engage a larger percentage of your population in such participation and thus increasing your chances to be seen even if your base population is smaller.

Personally I don't see voting on private server websites to be particularly meaningful when it comes to exposure - but that's probably because I've never looked at such sites to find a good server, I've looked at youtube and forum discussions. Well, I didn't mean to ramble on as much as I did though.

Finally, the word is out! Thanks Moradin for the overview.

I like the fact that the balance between alliance and horde seems to be near 50% with alliance only slightly ahead and on some days even a bit behind.

While I cannot speak for anyone but myself, I have seen and dealt with a lot when it comes to pvp and issues with pvp on the server. There is one commonality that seems to come up a lot and that is this sense of dissatisfaction between the hardcore pvpers/premades, and the random pvpers(and those not "in" the clique).

pvpers are a great bunch of people for the most part, but from listening to horror stories and seeing things it seems that they're also their own worst enemy. From where I sit it almost seems that the cliques have a tendency to push the random pvp'ers away from wanting to pvp/queue.

Again, I can't speak for anyone else but can only make an assessment from what I have seen/handled. My best suggestion is that all pvp'ers think twice before putting down others who are also trying to enjoy what you are trying to promote. A better (more friendly) pvp community would definitely go a long way to helping improve pvp in our community

I really prefer Haven&Hearth PvP style. Permadeath and you can be killed even while offline.

So much what Davros put.

The small minority of world pvpers (gankers) doesn't help either.

Elicas said:

The small minority of world pvpers (gankers) doesn't help either.

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I'm not too sure how much ganking comes into play when it comes to high level pvp. Sure it could impact a players levelling experience and could impact the player from wanting to continue levelling, but ganking unfortunately is to be expected on world pvp servers. I myself have been ganked by both factions while levelling up my characters. It's frustrating for sure, but that to me has no impact on my decision to either do/not do high level pvp.

Davros said:

I'm not too sure how much ganking comes into play when it comes to high level pvp. Sure it could impact a players levelling experience and could impact the player from wanting to continue levelling, but ganking unfortunately is to be expected on world pvp servers. I myself have been ganked by both factions while levelling up my characters. It's frustrating for sure, but that to me has no impact on my decision to either do/not do high level pvp.

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My direct experience of it has been that when they-who-shall-not-be-named released their PvE server, 5 members of our core team quit to go there due to frustrations with trying to complete PvE orientated objectives in places such as Winterspring and Silithus while essentially being corpse camped by geyser farmers and the like.

5 may be a drop in the ocean compared to the wider server population, but it has taken weeks for our guild to recover from the loss of 2 very well geared paladin healers quitting. Gankers have therefore directly had a major negative influence on our entire guild.

I wonder how many others have left for said PvE realm, I've noticed the population has felt significantly worse since its release. I don't really PvP very much, but the few times I have I've always felt unwelcome. Add to the fact that when I'm say, grinding reputation in Silithus, and a small group of Horde decide to corpse camp me for a while, it doesn't make me want to stay and play more.

Quite the opposite in fact.

Not a problem. Disable Silithus sand and your problem is solved. Its been suggested already.
Remove the honor gain and leave everything else as it is -> done

I must admit I have mixed feelings about anyone who would quit here because of something like that. I don't really know what to say about people who are more willing to drop a raid-ready 60, and all the time and effort involved, to reroll on a lesser quality realm. It'd have certainly taken less for them to endure those quests here, than starting over altogether. Not really brilliant if you ask me... assumed that's actually all there is to it.

Moreover, those kinds of situation test a community. So far I've been camped twice, in Redridge. On both occasions I turned to my guild, and both times a 60 would come over. They roflstomped the camper a couple times, I teabagged him, then they spirit healed. Problem solved.

If vanilla taught me anything, is that you are sometimes expected to outsmart difficulties.

Elicas said:

My direct experience of it has been that when they-who-shall-not-be-named released their PvE server, 5 members of our core team quit to go there due to frustrations with trying to complete PvE orientated objectives in places such as Winterspring and Silithus while essentially being corpse camped by geyser farmers and the like.

5 may be a drop in the ocean compared to the wider server population, but it has taken weeks for our guild to recover from the loss of 2 very well geared paladin healers quitting. Gankers have therefore directly had a major negative influence on our entire guild.

I wonder how many others have left for said PvE realm, I've noticed the population has felt significantly worse since its release. I don't really PvP very much, but the few times I have I've always felt unwelcome. Add to the fact that when I'm say, grinding reputation in Silithus, and a small group of Horde decide to corpse camp me for a while, it doesn't make me want to stay and play more.

Quite the opposite in fact.

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PvE realms are ideal for people who do not pvp often/ever and who don't want to be subjected to interference when they just want to "play". I get that, I am that way myself. If I had the option between a PvP and a PvE realm, then PvE is my choice 99 times out of 100.

Ganking is frustrating, corpse camping is even worse. I sympathize, I really do. I levelled two 60's (one of each faction). I have been ganked, but I can't say I was ever corpse camped here on Kronos. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, it does and I see complaints from time to time in tickets about it. It sucks, but that's the nature of the beast. There are things that players can do to not have to put up with that stress.
a) quest/farm in a different area or different zone, then come back later
b) request help from high levels in the zone, in world chat, guilds
c) log onto an alt for a period of time then log back.
Most of these scenarios usually resolve themselves by gankers getting bored and move on.
Are these the best option overall? probably no, the best is to not get ganked at all. Are these the best alternatives currently available on a PvP server? yes.

If I put that much time, effort into levelling a toon and am only 4-5 levels away from max, i'm not going to let some ***** take that away from me. Most people I am sure would feel the same. I would argue that by these 5 people quitting over something like this actually shows you those players true colours and just how "reliable" and "devoted" they really were. As a guild if you are counting on your core team to be reliable and devoted, then one could argue that as a guild you're better off without them.

Having said that, we don't want to see any players leave the server. Every player matters because we put a ton of time in on all levels of the team (most of which is voluntary). One less person means one less person enjoying the world around them that we work hard to maintain. We want to share our hard work and passion with all users, the more the merrier. This is Kronos and we're committed to high quality in every capacity. More importantly, this is OUR(the community and the staff) world. Every addition is great, every loss is like losing a piece of "us". People come and people go, but Kronos will continue to be the best Kronos can be.

Ill tell you what isnt gonna help the whole PvP/Population issue.. ganking all of the allies outside the AV entrance in alterac valley.. Horde you are really committed to ruin the server arent you ^^

DarkStorm said:

Ill tell you what isnt gonna help the whole PvP/Population issue.. ganking all of the allies outside the AV entrance in alterac valley.. Horde you are really committed to ruin the server arent you ^^

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You PvP whiners aren't going anywhere, so ya can shut up. PvP has been PvP since the beginning and if anything it's less brutal than it was the first 1-3 months of the server.

PvP doesn't magically bring more people to a server and it doesn't magically run people from a server. You aren't the first person in 20 years to run this narrative.

Duma said:

You PvP whiners aren't going anywhere, so ya can shut up. PvP has been PvP since the beginning and if anything it's less brutal than it was the first 1-3 months of the server.

PvP doesn't magically bring more people to a server and it doesn't magically run people from a server. You aren't the first person in 20 years to run this narrative.

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Were there even online games 20 years ago?

Stay and listen a while:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_Online

17 years... But there were others Old Ones i guess.

It seems WoW will adrift the same direction more or less. Somedays maybe a good privat server will not even stay at blizzlike-status but will even be more improved than vanilla somehow without any wonkyness... Like an Vanilla-style Cataclysm-Server without lorebreaking stuff like spaceage-TBC, Dullor and Pandaland. Oh the ... possibilities ... An Nerds Wet dream... ^^

(sry for bad english)

Well, I think it's safe to say that now it's time for some measures or else. I would start with an optional x2 experience, plus some double xp weekends on top of that. I'm pretty sure that if nothing will be done this server will die a horrible death. Or at least it will be in a horrible coma.

As for PvE servers and how "no one would play them" as some lunatics were proclaiming before "that" PvE server launched, well... "That" PvE server has three times the population of Kronos and more PvP than Kronos will ever have if nothing is being done. So currently I wouldn't be surprised if even some PvPers have left Kronos for a "PvE server", because really who gives a fuck about world PvP if there's barely a WG a day :w00t:

Ah, and I remember when I said before AV was launched that I'm afraid there won't be enough people to play that, and I got like 130000 facepalms. Oh, boy, was I wrong :laugh:

Bottom line, it's time to drop that blizzlike bullshit excuse, and do something to improve the population. Kronos already isn't a true blizzlike server, so who gives a fuck if some new players can level a little faster... Facebook and the other media bullshit are useless. If the new player comes here and starts leveling at 1x rates and reaches Lakeshire and that fucking rogue, he will just gtfo and go back to whatever the fuck he was playing. Of course we can say that he's not dedicated enough, but that really doesn't help to improve the situation.

Mosotti said:

As for PvE servers and how "no one would play them" as some lunatics were proclaiming before "that" PvE server launched, well... "That" PvE server has three times the population of Kronos and more PvP than Kronos will ever have if nothing is being done. So currently I wouldn't be surprised if even some PvPers have left Kronos for a "PvE server", because really who gives a fuck about world PvP if there's barely a WG a day :w00t:

Ah, and I remember when I said before AV was launched that I'm afraid there won't be enough people to play that, and I got like 130000 facepalms. Oh, boy, was I wrong :laugh:

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I second that. I, too, suggested to implement a PvE mode for players during character creation before Nos PvE was launched, only to be flamed and trolled by that kid who thought voting for the realm could as opposed make any difference, and went on authorizing his account just to spam facepalms at me. Thinking about it now, the asshole always tended to insult anyone who would roll on Nos, and guess what...


Anyway, as a first measure I would warmly still recommend that hybrid solution, as being able to cater to as many people as possible would be the top priority before any other step is considered.