turn arena caps off again...

[BaldEagl]

I liked it without the caps.

[Kazaa]

I liked not having caps, it was pure win! I really think HiTech should think about keeping it that way.

Titanic Tuesday 24/7 in orange, blue was the noobs friendly zone. Everyone profits.

[waystin2]

I liked it without the caps.

I admit that I preferred it also.  I saw no difference in ENY, hording or the usual explanations as to why arena balancing is needed.  All the same annoying behaviors still occurred, but I could fly where I wanted, when I wanted.  I concede the HTC knows their product better than me, so I go with the flow. 

[gyrene81]

blue was the noobs friendly zone.

Thought that was what the DA and EW arenas were for...

[Ack-Ack]

we had split arenas before, the only difference is now we dont get to chose which one we want to fly in.

You still have a choice...you can choose to log into the Blue LW arena or the Orange LW arena.  Nothing is preventing you from selecting either one other than yourself.


ack-ack

[Skuzzy]

It does not have to do with hordes, it has to do with our business.  HiTech and Pyro have both explained the business reasons behind it.  

If you continue to make it about something else, you are just beating your head against the wall and all we can do is sell the popcorn for the show.

[RTHolmes]

You still have a choice...you can choose to log into the Blue LW arena or the Orange LW arena.  Nothing is preventing you from selecting either one other than yourself.

err ... the arena caps are preventing me from selecting which arena I fly in. i think you may be confusing this with an eny whine or something else.

It does not have to do with hordes, it has to do with our business.  HiTech and Pyro have both explained the business reasons behind it.

I must have missed those posts, would be interesting to see the reasoning behind it.

[Skuzzy]

Here are some of the responses from HiTech:

1. Before arena split AH was no longer growing.

2. After arena split AH started growing faster than it ever had.

Now there really is only 1 reason for this, more people are having fun, and thus subscribe.

So let us begin with the true facts, there is an optimal number that makes game play the best for aces high.

This number is above 50 and below 500. We can argue where that number is exactly, but it is irrelevant because we have more people playing aces high at the same time then the upper bounds of this number.

When we split arenas, we had gone far above this number to the extent, AH had stopped growing. So some method was needed to start a 2nd arena. The simple method as you propose was tried first. We set both arenas to have a static cap, but 1 arena will fill , before people would start populating the 2nd arena, and the cries were deafening to change something.

The reason we have the floating limits, is simply because it is the quickest way to reach critical mass of the 2nd arena.
The time we chose to do the population , is when the population is growing the quickest , this is to minimize the low number time in the 2nd arena.

So now, if you do not understand , ask a question. If you understand, but do not believe the facts, I do not wish to hear it, because we have facts, you only have guesses.

If you have a NEW idea that has been not tried before please post it and I would be happy to discuss it.

If you wish to hide your wanting a bigger arena with ideas like letting people into a full arena to balance the idea, do not expect a response from me.

To begin with total players on line was the highest last night it has been in at least 3 months on a thursday night.

2nd I assume we agree there is a playablity limit at some number where there is just too many people in one arena.

Pick any number you wish, the problem becomes what to do when you hit that number.

For instance when we were at a cap of 390  what do you do when you log on and the arena is full. Suddenly you are realy stuck because at best only 5- 10 more people will be wanting to play LW with you. The key is to understand no matter where you think the max is, at some point you will have to establish a 2nd arena in the same format.

So if you do not cut down the max and make 2 arenas where both have a large enough population durning most play times. You have sudenly limited the growth of you player base. Because establishing critical mass in the 2nd arena by changing nothing is almost imposible.

This is not a new problem, when we were running WB we had the same problem. At that time our technical max was 250 in an arena. And we had grown to where the main was full on most nights. We never did find a way to get another arena populated.


Understand our goal is simply to have 2 arenas running with critical mass.
The other goals are, always be able to get in each arena, so you can always fly with your squad, or any one else you wish.

But the need to establish critical mass in a 2nd arena of the same type is realy not debateable, the only things debateable are at what point, and how to establish that critical mass.

There are probably more.  I did not look for Pyro's posts.

[The Fugitive]

The problem is the Atlantic Ocean isn't wide enough. If it was 3 time zones wider there wouldn't be as much of an issue. Euro would have the single arena 3 more hours and then when the dynamic caps started the second arena would climb pretty quick as the east coast of the US signed on. Unfortunately the dynamic cap kicks in as the east coast starts coming on, it's just a bit too early for most of the Euro guys.

[RufusLeaking]

Here are some of the responses from HiTech:

1. Before arena split AH was no longer growing.

2. After arena split AH started growing faster than it ever had.

Now there really is only 1 reason for this, more people are having fun, and thus subscribe.

No one can argue with the continued commercial success of the game.

I, for one, have enjoyed the lack of caps.  Especially after a disco, it is nice to jump back in without a cap block.

But, I played before, and I will continue to play. 

Shooting down waystin is worth the $15...

[waystin2]

Shooting down waystin is worth the $15...

I take that as a compliment Ruf!

 

[gyrene81]

Every time this is brought up it sounds like an issue of timing more than anything...maybe if HTC adjusted the times and maybe the cap numbers it wouldn't be so bad?

[Knite]

What about adjustment of the minimum the caps start at? I've seen minimums as low as 150/100. How about adjusting them to 250/200 as baseline instead? That still would not change how the arenas function at critical mass, yet at the same time give more flexibility in the "lower numbers" time periods?

[Skuzzy]

Raising the minimums does not solve any problems.  It will just take longer for the second arena to reach a level players are happy/okay with.

[Knite]

Raising the minimums does not solve any problems.  It will just take longer for the second arena to reach a level players are happy/okay with.

I think that depends on what the perceived problem is.

Taking the example of at least my understanding of this post, people from outside the " crazy happy time" time zones enjoyed the lack of cap. Examining the reason (it would be helpful to know a more granular reason of why), a "guestimation" would be the lack of caps meant the smaller "total population" of the off hours crew allowed a much higher number to conglomerate together at the same time, allowing for more people to participate with each other at once under the same arena. I'm sure you can agree that there is a gameplay or immersive difference between 100 people in the same arena vs. 200 people in that arena, and the people posting in here appear to prefer the 2nd alternative.  By increasing the minimum baseline, it would help alleviate this problem, and no longer split up an already smaller player pool, yet would not alter the "max arena numbers" balancing accomplished by the current cap system when the numbers do become much higher during "happy time". Yes, it would mean the second arena would take longer to reach it's cap, but at the same time would not hinder the "mass online" playability of those players during slower time quite as much.

Was just a thought. =)