Background
Aion Classic has a substantial player base outside of the US, despite being 'Classic NA' . For most outside of that region, there are only private server alternatives for Classic content at this time.
There has been some discussion on LFG and within legions regarding the Tiak queue times. This was pertinent during the latest Daeva Passes which gave points for entering Tiak. As Tiak opens between 3-5AM for EU (depending on timezone), this was not viable for a lot of EU players.
Impact
Aion Classic players are typically 10+ year veterans; passionate enough about Aion to keep playing despite dealing with the faults of an old, niche, and often neglected version of the game. Many returning players are dismayed to find out chunks of endgame content are not possible for them to access. The more hardcore based outside NA will often nap or adjust schedules to participate in dredge, sieges etc. Opening up to more players reduces queue times for both factions, and motivates more players to invest time in the game.
Ideas
Dredge pops 3 times per day, and usually players can make at least one of these times. Based on the flexibility that the dredge queue has, would it be possible to implement something similar for Tiak?
Blanket time shift: shift Tiak times forward to fall between dredges/before siege.
Pros: Consistent time, viable for a lot more players to queue
Cons: May impact Oceanic/non EU players, clusters a lot of content at a certain point in the day (however, most NA timezones are aligned with dredges and siege anyway)
Additional queue slot: Add another slot to queue for Tiak, but maintain maximum entry of once per day
Pros: Players can continue to queue at the existing time, viable for a lot more players to queue, if players miss first slot they have a remaining one to attempt
Cons: May split the existing playerbase between each slot if it's max once per day, I assume custom code required
Apply queue slot/time shift for certain days: Designate certain days to have a time shift, or additional entry e.g Weekends have an additional queue time, or Tues/Thurs have an earlier Tiak.
Pros: Viable for a lot more players to queue, single queue time so no splitting between two potential times
Cons: May be confusing as timing/slots depends on day
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Thanks for your time if you read this far, if you have any opinions or suggestions to add I'd be grateful.
- Saffy
