I can say to questions of "why do it?"
-Previous Exploits
-Need to re-examine leveling mathematically.
-Need a flood of people in early leveling to balance this effectively.
-Reworking major systems (magic, factions, quests...)
-Need to re-assess training levels, what should be max, the value of time relative to fun.
-Need to re-align who trains what and where.
-many dead accounts, guilds, and guild houses.
-Clear long time players to play on the correct server
-Set clear baseline for the new rp rules on laanx.
Im using this post since it contains most keywords..
As I said in another post about database reset (that Im too lazy now to search..) I see in this discussion mostly topics, but hardly real points. A few in particular:
- previous exploits: Yes, those happend. But what in particular is the bad effect of them apart from e.g. some more money on a few chars? Way more money comes from the plainum diggers.
- Need to re-examine leveling mathematically: Ok, that's a good point. But: Are you throughoutly prepared for it? Will you just look for a year for it before wiping again and restarting with more reasonable rules? (That'd be actually the way to go). Why does it need a complete database reset instead of simply having a look at new chars?
- Reworking major systems (magic, factions, quests...): Sounds good, but.... I have not a clue what is meant in particular
- Need to re-assess training levels, what should be max, the value of time relative to fun: Definetly a todo, but I again don't see what big advantage a wipe will bring here.
- many dead accounts, guilds, and guild houses: There are many dead accounts and guilds in the database. But what in particular is the big bad thing in it? Does it slow the server down by e.g. 5%; does it generate lag for players? That's again just a topic, but not a point for a wipe since there is no explanation of what bad the dead database entry do. (And as a side note; you can find the maybe 10 dead guild houses by simply watching)
- Set clear baseline for the new rp rules on laanx: We did that already partially and never heard again of the convention...
Other points I saw:
- Clear bad items from the database: I personally would very much like to have a fish of seduction, but well.... anyway, what in particular is the bad effect of the items in the game? Lag... crashes...?
- Game is inbalanced stats-wise: Ok, this will set all back to the original stats (including those who have minimum possible skills&stats due to a earlier bug). But, rough guess, after 3 months we will have people with maxed skills&stats again and people without having trained anything. I don't see the point of why a wipe will bring a long-term solution.
To sum up: Yes, there are even points for a wipe, most things are simply aimed at tidy up the database as aim itself. Im all for having things tidied up, but <crazyExample>I don't quit my job to tidy up my home</crazyExample>. Means: If I do the most extreme action I should have decent benefit from it.
Notes: - I actually should write about disadvantages of a wipe; else also weak pro-wipe points would be sufficient. But I believe most can think of some disadvantages
- We might want to drop the pler on laanx topic; else this thread would turn into one of many...
I can't resist to also say something to the testers-excu...ehm.. point: Im not a tester, Im a player. If I were a tester I'd want to get access to the information I need for testing. And I want the abilities for testing. But all I have is the information and abilities of a player who puts bug reports every now and then into the bug tracker.
For the rest imagine I copied some of Koios's and gaelfx's (and maybe other's) posts in here
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