MY ARENA CAP IDEA

[seano]

ok, so ive read that the capping is a result of aces high not growing. i was ready to cancel due to lack of interest on my part in the main arena and lack of new maps.  ww1 saved me. but anyways,
  so here goes my idea: instead of capping the number of people in an arena, how about capping the number of planes a base can support in the air? lets say a small base can support 20 aircraft, 30 for a medium base, 40 for a large base. this way you will force a country to spread the fights. we all know its really annoying to not be able to get in the "big arena". what was evident was that  more  players liked having the caps removed by looking at the numbers.

       by capping the number of planes a base can support, missions will need to be planned different. town killers up from 1 base, fighters from another.  this kind of change will allow squad nights to not be interupted, will allow everyone to be in the arena with the big numbers, will limit the hordes in 1 small area.  the maps are large enough to support this, the are too big to have a cap of 200. hopefully skuzzy will read this idea as i have not read this anywhere else. 

[jimson]

Wish list better place for it, Hitech responds in there sometimes.

[oTRALFZo]

ok, so ive read that the capping is a result of aces high not growing. i was ready to cancel due to lack of interest on my part in the main arena and lack of new maps.  ww1 saved me. but anyways,
  so here goes my idea: instead of capping the number of people in an arena, how about capping the number of planes a base can support in the air? lets say a small base can support 20 aircraft, 30 for a medium base, 40 for a large base. this way you will force a country to spread the fights. we all know its really annoying to not be able to get in the "big arena". what was evident was that  more  players liked having the caps removed by looking at the numbers.

       by capping the number of planes a base can support, missions will need to be planned different. town killers up from 1 base, fighters from another.  this kind of change will allow squad nights to not be interupted, will allow everyone to be in the arena with the big numbers, will limit the hordes in 1 small area.  the maps are large enough to support this, the are too big to have a cap of 200. hopefully skuzzy will read this idea as i have not read this anywhere else. 

Hordes are ALWAYS in one small area, thats why we call em hordes. Your idea is nice and all. It almost follows the area ENY idea ppl had. Can you imagine the whines of "WHY IS THAT NEWB FLYING IN MY ZONE/BASE".
I dont and never will understand the idea of having arena caps. Im not trying to beat a dead horse here, but the way it was set up, gave players a consistent choice where they wanted to play. Who really cares that the #s were LWO- 420/500 and LWB was 23/250. That alone proves that everyone loves to play in one big arena. Having LWB made the "milkers" happy so they can be uncontested when they wanted to play their game, but also gave some a choice that if some came to LWB and wanted some easy kills on milkers, they can switch and shoot em down.

For some reason, when arena caps are in place, one arena is mobbed by one country with another country lacking. Now you have the  country with no #s being swarmed by the other 2 and the remaining fronts empty. Now the only choice is either your in the horde, or fighting the horde OR switch fronts or countries and try to pick fights by loitering at empty feilds only to come up empty handed.

[Kazaa]

I never thought the day would come, today I cancelled my account for good after 5 years of subscription. This game just wasn't the same since the caps were set in place all those years ago.

If I were HiTech, I would have left arenas free of caps and let my paying customers choose which arena they would like to use. If you like large action, go into Orange as most people would gravitate towards it, being first on the list. If you like small action, go into Blue, everyone's happy.

[RTHolmes]

I dont and never will understand the idea of having arena caps. Im not trying to beat a dead horse here, but the way it was set up, gave players a consistent choice where they wanted to play. Who really cares that the #s were LWO- 420/500 and LWB was 23/250. That alone proves that everyone loves to play in one big arena. Having LWB made the "milkers" happy so they can be uncontested when they wanted to play their game, but also gave some a choice that if some came to LWB and wanted some easy kills on milkers, they can switch and shoot em down.

+1

If I were HiTech, I would have left arenas free of caps and let my paying customers choose which arena they would like to use. If you like large action, go into Orange as most people would gravitate towards it, being first on the list. If you like small action, go into Blue, everyone's happy.

+1

[321BAR]

Skuzzy already said that HTC turned caps on due to business in another thread about a week ago

[RTHolmes]

not quite, the LW arena was originally split due to losing business, understandable as new players could easily be discouraged by flying in a single arena with 800 others. gameplay was effected because there were just too many players for one map. caps were then introduced to balance the numbers between the 2 LWAs. this is the bit I have a problem with, I just dont see how balancing the numbers between arenas adds anything. there are plenty of downsides to it, for no gain that I can see. no one has suggested that the caps were turned back on recently because HT was losing business. however, I'd guess that turning the caps back on will have an impact on business as it will annoy large numbers of players.

[321BAR]

not quite, the LW arena was originally split due to losing business, understandable as new players could easily be discouraged by flying in a single arena with 800 others. gameplay was effected because there were just too many players for one map. caps were then introduced to balance the numbers between the 2 LWAs. this is the bit I have a problem with, I just dont see how balancing the numbers between arenas adds anything. there are plenty of downsides to it, for no gain that I can see. no one has suggested that the caps were turned back on recently because HT was losing business. however, I'd guess that turning the caps back on will have an impact on business as it will annoy large numbers of players.

i shoulda added recently...

[RTHolmes]

havent seen anything to suggest caps were turned back on recently because of losing business ...


edit: just from my observations I'd guess overall numbers playing in LW have fallen since the caps were reintroduced. hopefully HTC are tracking the numbers and will consequently switch the caps off again when they see how it effects numbers and gameplay. quite apart from the fact that 95% of players dont want them.

[Skuzzy]

The underlying cause of the arena split is to remove the caustic environment the large single arena created.  Too many players in one arena creates an unhealthy environment.

The arena caps were enabled again, as the arena numbers were approaching the healthy environment limits.  No matter what you think, we have numbers proving a large arena will not allow HTC to continue to grow.

We have remained open for suggestions to solve the problem.  A large fixed arena size is not an option.

[RTHolmes]

I dont think anyone is suggesting one large LWA like titanic tuesdays, just 2 LW arenas with fixed caps set at whatever level the terrain can support.

apart from the last few weeks, has this ever been tried before?

[Skuzzy]

Multiple small cap arenas?  How is that going to be any different than a dynamic cap?  If the arena you want in is capped, why would you be happy than if it was static instead of dynamic?

By the way, I have no input as to what system is used.  I am just asking questions and trying to answer using quotes from HiTech and Pyro.

[321BAR]

Multiple small cap arenas?  How is that going to be any different than a dynamic cap?  If the arena you want in is capped, why would you be happy than if it was static instead of dynamic?

By the way, I have no input as to what system is used.  I am just asking questions and trying to answer using quotes from HiTech and Pyro.

is it time to go for another LW arena yet? same dynamics? the only reason one is more populated than another is the favorable map... maybe a better map rotation then?

[RTHolmes]

not small caps, cap fixed at whatever is the max for that map. the really big maps maybe 600-800?, small maps like pizza 400-500? overcrowding is partially a function of the terrain design, number of bases overall, number of bases on each front etc.

I think quite a few players have suggested a big map rotation in LWA (since historically this is where players look for numbers) and a small map rotation in LWB, seems like quite a good idea

[SlapShot]

We have remained open for suggestions to solve the problem.  A large fixed arena size is not an option.

I don't think that you could ever get away from the dynamic arena balancing notion for all the reasons that Dale and Doug gave ... it's all dollars and cents and most of us understand that ... some don't really give a crap whether you guys make (more) money ... it's all about them and their needs.

I have suggested a couple of times to add another dimension to the arena balancing ...

If an arena is capped - Arena "O" ... still allow entry into arena "O" but only to the two lowest populated countries until their numbers match the highest populated country. If they enter the arena through this avenue, they cannot change countries for 1 hour (basically resetting their country changing switch time).

OR

(this is basically what happens today) if the other arena "B" hits its threshold number that causes arena "O's" cap to automatically increase.

This notion would/could appease those who want into a capped arena and are willing to fly for countries that are less populated.