Topic

Overcrowding

I've been away from the game a couple of days because of work, so today I gleefully entered the minds of the giants to enjoy a nice day of Glitch.  At first things went swimmingly. I petted my trees and watered/ harvested my crops. Poor piggies needed some love and the chicken ... well I wont discuss the chicken... 
Then as soon as I stepped out of my door all hell broke loose. The street in front of my house was full of glitches. I said to myself "ok. madragoran it's probably the people living right here. Go start mining." My favourite place for mining is deep inside the caves at Ilmenskie Caverns. I find mining a relaxing and profitable activity and I like being almost alone in the caves. While I walked to my destination though, I kept seeing the same thing.... A great many glitches in the streets running about doing glitchy stuff. There were very few trees that I could actually pet and water. And then I reached my caves and started descenting to find a good place to start mining. The whole cave system was brimming with glitches! No sooner had I started mining a rock than someone else or in some case two someone-elses started helping me. There were instances were glitches were actually waiting for me to start and following me around... I walked the caves from top to bottom, did a lot less than I had hoped I would and now I feel overcrowded.  I am glad I purchased a home early on because today the place seemed bursting at the seams with glitches. I am all for Glitch (tm) becoming popular - I am a big fan, but today was exhausting for me. I used to feel bad about my being in a different time zone but it seems it could prove a blessing... 

Posted 15 months ago by madragoran Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Madaragoran, I've found that the farther you get from the main Groddle island, the better it gets...but it can be very frustrating, I know! Especially when I need spices and it takes me 20 minutes because the lag is so bad and *everybody* gets their spices from the plants down in IX. 

    I think that if this continues, something like other games use would help here - sets of servers. You could pick a server when you log on, and see how "crowded" it is at first. I know this will segregate Glitches onto separate spaces, but it may be needed in the end - especially if this keeps growing in popularity...there is only so much Flash can handle!
    Posted 15 months ago by Mogen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • INB4

    "And then I reached my caves..."

    *screeeeeech* WHAAAAAAAAAT did you say!

    YOUR!? caves?
    Posted 15 months ago by Mr. Dawgg Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Someone, quick! Throw the Dawgg a bone. We need to distract him stat.
    Posted 15 months ago by emdot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't think there's ever likely to be sharding of the game, at least not for a very long time -- or unless it becomes totally technically necessary (I'm just saying that from what Stoot has said before when people have talked about it). 

    But in other threads they have said there are moves afoot to spread around new players. Plus we get to make the world bigger once street building projects open up again, and there will be group spaces as well to help deal with the load.

    Think of it as a temporary irritation while the world deals with a sudden influx of new players who are all hungry for similar resources. In the long run, that is better for us all since it makes the world more vibrant... yes, things were generally pretty quiet in beta -- but we have to get used to the fact that we're playing an MMO that anyone can join.
    Posted 15 months ago by wurzel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • yes "my caves" as in "my game", "my community", "my hang out place".... not as in "the place I own, and have purchased".  Thank you for helping me clarify this
    Posted 15 months ago by madragoran Subscriber! | Permalink
  • madragoran everytime i use my like you do, someone ribs me for it. just messin with ya.

    i actually agree with you entirely. i forgot to mention that. groddle meadow, and greg grange are just packed! i like it partly though, because you can always get a game of something going. race or crowns.
    Posted 15 months ago by Mr. Dawgg Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I agree that the streets are too crowded, I used to love Illmeskie Caverns too, but right now, I don't think I'm even going to learn mining, too many people mining for currants. Ajaya Bliss was a shinny paradise, now it's a freaking 24 hour party. I wish the suscription include some suscription only streets with a limited number of people.

    The donkey kong like street in Groddle Heighs, another disappointment, because it was all empty.
    Posted 15 months ago by Natalia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I organized a group to mine outside Ajaya Bliss in the hopes that would both reduce traffic in Ajaya but also benefit the group as we wouldn't have to run around waiting for spawns (which take entirely too long now).  Not only was there 1 sparkly rock that I found between half of Ilmenskie, there was only a few beryl, and a little bit more dullite but not even enough for a profit.

    Devs said they are introducing players to different starting regions which will help as far as Groddle areas being overpopulated, but even with mining Groddle Heights and the northern zones are completely overcrowded.  Even Pollokoo (whatever it's called lol) is full of miners and they have only built 3 streets!
    Posted 15 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mining in Pollokoo was -insane-! There were just too many glitches in one area, it's the first time I've experienced significant lag due to high traffic. Huge groups jumped on newly spawned rocks before you could blink :( 
    Posted 15 months ago by Autumnsdark Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I agree we are pretty crowded in most of the areas that have rocks for mining.
    hopefully we will see new cave areas open...hint hint ;)
    Posted 15 months ago by Gadzooks Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 for new areas. Every time I go to GFJ or Gregarious Grange, it's as crowded as some of the parties I went to during beta. Kinda scary. Kinda cool.
    Posted 15 months ago by Arii Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Anrasan Glance looked like an ant hill earlier today - I think from ghost hunters scrambling about. Made me woosy.
    Posted 15 months ago by gimmegames Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It seems even the boglands are overcrowded, not much chance of anyone doing the peat quest that's for sure. 

    Way too many Glitches for the resources available, and I've come across some bad tempered, rude players who think they 'own' a tree or wont listen when you try and explain about how barnicles can be harvested jointly. No pleasure for me going anywhere today.

    If all I'm going to do is stay home out of the rat race and learn some skills, I'm seriously thinking it might be time for me to take a break from Glitch for a while. Maybe it will improve but right now it feels like Ur needs to be at least 3 times the size it is currently to accommodate all the Glitchens.
    Posted 15 months ago by Teena Subscriber! | Permalink
  • We know it!

    This will get better fairly soon (we think). Part of it is the rate of new players (which is subsiding, and which are considering putting the brakes on for a while, to give time for us to ramp up everything else). Part of it is that (relatively) few players own homes and once they've had a chance to put together the resources, they will spend a bit more time indoors.

    In the meantime, the world will be getting bigger (there are new locations near-ready to unlock) and we are working on more features which will take people out of the public streets.

    We expected the first few weeks post launch to be much more hectic than usual and we are constantly monitoring and trying things to even out the distribution of players. But the number of people signing up has been really, really high — it may be a good problem to have, but we recognize that it is still a problem :)
    Posted 15 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • (((stoot)))
    Posted 15 months ago by gimmegames Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you for letting us know Stoot and Thank the Giants for imagining more locations  :)
    Posted 15 months ago by Teena Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If you want us to stay home more, maybe give in to those who want both herbal and crop plots?
    Posted 15 months ago by gimmegames Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Spend time indoors you say?  Gosh, the only things in my house are my possessions and sometimes a pig or two.  Well, actually I do leave my Glitch in there when I quit playing.  I wouldn't want her stolen and then find that someone else is me.  Glitches have made it all the way to Pollokoo and they are creeping into most locations.  I did find it almost deserted in Kalavana.  That might be safe.  Also, there is no Sub there so many will not walk that far.  You can really clean up in the Peat business there.  I have made a lost a fortune just in that location during the past week.  Also, the weekend is nearly over.  Most of these Glitches will go to sleep for several hours at least.  Shhhhh....
    Posted 15 months ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • yay stoot! "there are new locations near-ready to unlock" 
    Very good news indeed. I sure hope we get some sea related ones too. Underwater homes <hint> <nudge> :)
    Posted 15 months ago by madragoran Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hold on - I have a question. Why would someone rather mine alone with no one helping them? Surely it's better to get more rocks using less energy + time than to get less rocks for more energy + time?
    Posted 15 months ago by Rather Obscure Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well for me it has nothing to do with efficiency or profit. I like mining like other people like fishing. It's a repetative action that takes some time and allows my little glitch to unwind from trapasing through our little word harvesting and petting and squeezing. I like the sound my pick has on the rock and the fact that until recently I could do it relatively in private. I am not in the game chasing the currants or the levels. Please do not get me wrong. This is just my approach to the game. Slow and easy and having fun being silly. and occassionaly all alone. :)
    Posted 15 months ago by madragoran Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't mind the busy streets - it's a great place to find people to play GoC and run some races.
    Posted 15 months ago by Stormy Weather Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ooo, maybe those herb and flower growing pots will be ready for the crop growing houses? :) be nice to stay off the streeets to grow some of them. And a mail order seed catalog system. Definitely keep me off the street. :)
    Posted 15 months ago by Tibbi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm totally with you on that, madragoran. I love mining in a relaxed setting (generally alone or maybe with a good friend), and I love Ilmenskie Deeps to do it, because of the cool colors and style down there. It's sooo beautiful.

    I miss the solitude I used to find there. Hopefully one day it will be less busy again as these new things develop. :)  And maybe.. *crosses fingers* they'll add some more mining areas that just as beautiful.

    For now, the less inhabited areas I turn to for my solitary strolls are the Ancestral Lands or Kalavana. They don't tend to be too very crowded.
    Posted 15 months ago by Little Miss Giggles Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @madragoran: Yes, it can be a madhouse in Groddle right now. To me, it indicates a successful launch with new players eager to experience this unique and fabulous game. YAY! I am thrilled for ts.

    My playing style is rather like yours and suggest you wander around the more unpopulated regions like Besara, Salaku and Mufuu. There are plenty of resources there, including rocks to mine; not as many as the caverns but once Pollokoo is built out, the rush for rocks should ease.
    Posted 15 months ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink