Curse

ihmurria · May 24, 2005, 04:15 PM // 16:15

I think about 6 chars would be nice... I really just want to make one more, and then create a PvP char sometime in the future. And as more classes are added to the game, create more accounts that are available. 4 makes me feel a little cramped, like I can't do more if I want to without destroying a char I've worked with for a long time and it can get a bit frustrating. While four is better than one char, six would be better than four

The IOU · May 24, 2005, 05:41 PM // 17:41

Maybe they will give an extra 2 on expansion...

IndyCC · May 24, 2005, 05:59 PM // 17:59

If they add more professions with the expanision and add slots then, that still wont work. You still need one slot per profession. So for example say they add two professions with the expansion and give 1 or 2 more slots. Now you have 8 professions and 5 or six slots, still not providing enough slots.

As for other MMOs only giving one that is garbage. AO gave one per profession for a total of 8 when I still played it. That was four years ago technology. CoH (also made by NCsoft) Has 8 per server and like 10 servers...totalling 80 character slots. I understand those both pay per month games. But I know GW has atleast one server. I dont know how many servers GW has, guessing only one, it still should allow enough space on that server to hold 8 slots per account.

After CoH I swore I would never play another MMO again. But my father really likes them. Yes I said my father, he is 50 and plays video games more than me. So he bought this one for me as a gift so I would play with him. I really enjoy it and have taken back my swearing against MMOs. However, this is my only complain I hold against GW. Esspecially since pre-searing Ascalon is so pretty and fun to play and once you cross its a less pretty (still good graphics) scorched earth style.

Loviatar · May 24, 2005, 06:16 PM // 18:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyCC

If Esspecially since pre-searing Ascalon is so pretty and fun to play and once you cross its a less pretty (still good graphics) scorched earth style.

it isnt scorched forever
get a bit into the game for mountains , jungle and much more

cheer up it gets pretty again in distant areas

IndyCC · May 24, 2005, 06:35 PM // 18:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loviatar

it isnt scorched forever
get a bit into the game for mountains , jungle and much more

cheer up it gets pretty again in distant areas

Yeah I know, I've seen a lot of it. But Pre-searing is still prettiest to me.

The IOU · May 24, 2005, 06:55 PM // 18:55

Quote:

If they add more professions with the expanision and add slots then, that still wont work. You still need one slot per profession.

Don't agree...I don't think they ever intended nor will they to give you a slot for every profession.

IndyCC · May 24, 2005, 07:03 PM // 19:03

You are probably right that one slot per profession was not intended, which is my one beef with the game. I think that is why this forum was started was b/c it should be intended to have one slot per profession.

The IOU · May 24, 2005, 07:16 PM // 19:16

Well I think they did a good job then if that is the only beef of the game

Downfall · May 24, 2005, 09:49 PM // 21:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hunter511

Umm how about its free cause this is just pathetic only haveing 4 chars!!!

I tend to agree but dont forget it costs money to keep up servers and all .
My idea on more expensive version for more characters was more like a 5$ increase or something .... nothing to drastic.

Poppinjay · May 25, 2005, 04:24 AM // 04:24

Just sell a character pack that adds 2 more for 10 dollars say. None of the other packaging for GW is necessary. In stores it would come on a card with one of those silver-scratch backs, and perhaps it could even be cheaper to buy it online since the computer could just tell you a code after your credit card is verified. This would be very easy to do. Heck, instead of cards they could have Guild Wars Fortune Cookies with the code inside. Production costs would be less than trivial just to put a number out there.

One thing though, since more chars will be sharing storage, the storage should be expanded by 5 slots for each new character.

Poppin

theclam · May 25, 2005, 06:49 AM // 06:49

I don't see why the limit is at 4. It's definately not a technical reason.

Let's assume that each character takes about 10 megs of space (which is very high). You can get a 400GB hard drive for $260. 400GB is 400,000 megs (going by the skewed 1GB=1000MB formula that hard drive manufacturers use). That means that for $260, they could store 40,000 characters. It costs 0.65 cents for them to store one character. Even at 100 megs per character, that would be 4,000 characters at 6.5 cents per character.

Masut · May 25, 2005, 07:07 AM // 07:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Wolf

Adaria: They do sell cdkeys seperately. If you go to www.plaync.com, you can buy another copy online and get the code emailed to you.

Play NC don't sell keys alone. I had to pay for another 'online' copy of the game.
All because me and my bro don't wanna share 1 account and play on separate computers.

CatLady · May 25, 2005, 07:27 AM // 07:27

I believe there is more the the cost of such things than just the purchase of initial equipment.

Edit - although I don't think that's the main reason, either. More likely a 'game balance' vs. future expansions kind of issue.

Dyeeo · May 25, 2005, 07:33 AM // 07:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by theclam

I don't see why the limit is at 4. It's definately not a technical reason.

Let's assume that each character takes about 10 megs of space (which is very high). You can get a 400GB hard drive for $260. 400GB is 400,000 megs (going by the skewed 1GB=1000MB formula that hard drive manufacturers use). That means that for $260, they could store 40,000 characters. It costs 0.65 cents for them to store one character. Even at 100 megs per character, that would be 4,000 characters at 6.5 cents per character.

You are forgetting about overhead and installation.

Tormunda · May 25, 2005, 08:50 AM // 08:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by theclam

I don't see why the limit is at 4. It's definately not a technical reason.

Let's assume that each character takes about 10 megs of space (which is very high). You can get a 400GB hard drive for $260. 400GB is 400,000 megs (going by the skewed 1GB=1000MB formula that hard drive manufacturers use). That means that for $260, they could store 40,000 characters. It costs 0.65 cents for them to store one character. Even at 100 megs per character, that would be 4,000 characters at 6.5 cents per character.

Also I don't think your talking server HD costs there, that seems more like PC HD costs. And nothing about a Raid HD and any backup facility expansion.
The costs are far higher than you quoted.

But however, I cannot see how 1 character can possible be anywhere even remotely near 10 meg.
Lets see:
Account data - They need to store this no matter how many characters. This hold your unlocked lists etc.
Character data -
Name (20-30 bytes)
Lev (1 byte)
skill flags (with the ability to change 2nd class, 6 x 75 = 450 bit flags, lets say 60 bytes)
Gender (1 bit flag)
abilities (8 bytes)
Skills selected (8 bytes)
Equipment worn (7 x doublebyte if just ID, else see below)
Equipment in bags (45 x doublebyte if just ID, else see below)
if items are not an id ref - which i do not think they are:
base item id (2 bytes)
prefix id + value (3 bytes)
Sufix if + Value (3 bytes)
Base stats (2 bytes)
value (1 byte)
inate ability + value (3 bytes)
lets say 20 bytes for an item to be on the safe side. Max storage = 45 in bags + 7 equipped = 52. 52x20 = 1040bytes.

Can't see how the whole character can come to more than a few kb in size.

I can see an issue when you multiply this by the amount of players mind!
1 million players all adding 2 characters can be a lot of extra database records - lol. But 10mb a character is WAY-OFF the mark!

Midnight Scorpion · May 25, 2005, 11:26 AM // 11:26

need more mules!

BahamutKaiser · May 25, 2005, 02:07 PM // 14:07

As it stands, you can use all six proffesion between 3 characters and leave one open for a random PvP char, I think this is enough.

PvP chars take no time to develope, they are just designated stats and skills, It is nothing to remake your PvP char over again because you didn't earn him to begin with, you just designed him.

Anet holds our player information on servers, this means our charcters, which is a safeguard against hacks and modifications. They do not charge a monthly fee, they are providing this space based on the amount of money you spent on the game already, just like the old Bnet games. This means they have to set a set amount of space to hold your character. They have already provided enough to use every class between 3 chars and a 4th for PvP combinations, that is all you "need".

Anet has already mentioned adding new classes in the future though, through expansions. Considering this, and the desire for more character slots, I think the expansions should come with additional character slots for us to make more characters. This way we can make more characters with the new classes without deleting our already advanced characters in each of the current classes. Because this would come with an expansion, they would be making money off of the sale for the expansion, allowing them to provide more server space, if it is a thourough expansion with plenty to do, I don't have a problem spending another $40 (yes, I got mine at walmart for $40) for an expansion with new classes and 2 to 4 more available characters.

There is alot of data behind a character, not just what skills you have and what items you have, but a record of the quests you've done, guild affiliation, friends lists, all sorts of things, expecting them to lease out more space to save your characters without compensation is ignorant. If your realy interested in more space then why didn't you propose to pay a dollar per month for each additional character? Many MMORPGs require this..... If your expecting something then you should be offering some means of compensation, never ask for something without legitimate means to fulfill it.

Hunter511 · May 25, 2005, 03:06 PM // 15:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tormunda

Also I don't think your talking server HD costs there, that seems more like PC HD costs. And nothing about a Raid HD and any backup facility expansion.
The costs are far higher than you quoted.

But however, I cannot see how 1 character can possible be anywhere even remotely near 10 meg.
Lets see:
Account data - They need to store this no matter how many characters. This hold your unlocked lists etc.
Character data -
Name (20-30 bytes)
Lev (1 byte)
skill flags (with the ability to change 2nd class, 6 x 75 = 450 bit flags, lets say 60 bytes)
Gender (1 bit flag)
abilities (8 bytes)
Skills selected (8 bytes)
Equipment worn (7 x doublebyte if just ID, else see below)
Equipment in bags (45 x doublebyte if just ID, else see below)
if items are not an id ref - which i do not think they are:
base item id (2 bytes)
prefix id + value (3 bytes)
Sufix if + Value (3 bytes)
Base stats (2 bytes)
value (1 byte)
inate ability + value (3 bytes)
lets say 20 bytes for an item to be on the safe side. Max storage = 45 in bags + 7 equipped = 52. 52x20 = 1040bytes.

Can't see how the whole character can come to more than a few kb in size.

I can see an issue when you multiply this by the amount of players mind!
1 million players all adding 2 characters can be a lot of extra database records - lol. But 10mb a character is WAY-OFF the mark!

'then plz do share how much u think they take up since ur so smart!

jdwoody · May 25, 2005, 04:03 PM // 16:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tormunda

Can't see how the whole character can come to more than a few kb in size.

I can think of a few things you're missing, quests and their states, missions completed (with bonuses) and the map.

That being said I'd like 8 characters, but could live with 6...

BrandonIT · May 25, 2005, 04:05 PM // 16:05

I've never seen a database of any size that stored data in the most efficient way possible. Even though Tormunda's list of memory requirements for each character is an example of a _minimum_ size a character could be, I doubt it's there.

Besides, don't forget that for every size increase of the database, you're increasing your hardware costs not just for initial purchase, but for ONGOING maintenance of that equipment _forever_ (or at least until Guild Wars shuts down).

With no constant income from subscriptions, as a company I would be very wary of doing anything that will increase my ongoing costs without a good reason.

As someone said, 3 characters is enough for all 6 professions, plus a random PvP char.

Plus I'm sure if more professions are added, we'll be allocated an appropriate number of additional slots to allow us to try that profession. Perhaps not enough to try EVERY combination of that profession, but enough.

Personally, I like it that no one can have a character of every type/combination. This makes the game more diverse to make players have to choose.

And after reading through this thread, I would like to add the following to our intellectual conversation these bits of knowledge from one of our "prominent citizens."
--------------------------------------
"WE need like 40 SLOTS!!!!!!! thats all i got to say"

"that the most retarded thing iv heard"

"What is it with u people that say 6 would but enough and that guy saying that 4 is a gift i dont know if any of u played diablo before but you could have as many characters as u wanted and alot of people played that game and it didnt slow anything down 40 slots is reasonable!!!"

"yeah and i should listen to you cause u almost know what ur talking about!"

"Character files Do Bot Take Up that much room!"

"Umm how about its free cause this is just pathetic only haveing 4 chars!!!"

"'then plz do share how much u think they take up since ur so smart!"
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