AvA Scheduling

[Dawger]

I count 18 AvA/ Special events terrains. Just one setup per terrain provides an 18 week schedule. Some terrains will only be conducive to one setup with not much potential for variation yet others like Italy have the potential for many different setups.

Also there are ways to use existing terrains to better simulate history. As an example the Tunisia terrain doesn't really allow a good Kasserine Pass setup in the actual area of Kasserine Pass. Other terrains would allow a better simulation of Kasserine. Italy is an example of that. Of course, the ideal solution is to modify Tunisia with a Kasserine setup in mind.

At first glance it would appear fairly straightforward to achieve 26 setups allowing a six month non repeating schedule.

One per terrain plus 2 extra in Italy, 3 extra in Europe and 3 extra in PTO terrains like Coral Sea/Slot2 and the 26 week schedule is full. AvA staff can look 6 months out instead of 6 days.

[captain1ma]

not knocking anything, but why 6months? why not 1 or 2 and leave some flexibility? just curious.

[Dawger]

not knocking anything, but why 6months? why not 1 or 2 and leave some flexibility? just curious.

If you schedule in six month blocks you get a stable schedule for the players to plan around and it allows future development a little breathing room.

Six months is plenty of time to develop and test a setup. It is probably enough time to create a new terrain and test it.

And it makes you look like you have a plan.

It takes away the perception that the AvA is the playground of a few selected folks who decide setups based upon personal preference instead of according to an established schedule.

With a six month schedule a setup that proves unpopular or buggy you have time to evaluate the reasons why and implement changes in the setup and still announce the change 3 months in advance.

A six month rotation with a quarterly schedule announcement allows an established rotation with the ability to substitute with three months advance notice. It would provide development deadlines so that any new setups would need to be developed and tested before the scheduled quarterly announcement.

Quarterly schedule announcements allow easy Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter schedule postings.

When requesting support from HTC one can provide evidence of what works and what doesn't and when a change or bug fix is needed. If you tell HTC you have a terrain bug that you need fixed for a setup scheduled 4 months from now one is more likely to get a fix than for one 4 days from now.

Six months is a long enough period that folks will look forward to a setup coming back. Familiarity breeds contempt.

Scarcity makes something more valuable. If folks know they won't see their favorite setup for 26 weeks they will spend as much time as possible in the setup. If one can come up with 26 different setups that are someone's favorite you start building a following.

Anticipation is a powerful motivation. The movie industry advertises movies months in advance for a reason.

[gyrene81]

See, now you're talking Dawger. Nice recommendations.

[captain1ma]

how do you test something you cant put in production? if we wanted to mess with a setup and try different things, what you're saying is that we should do it offline. if you do it offline, how do you get people in to see if they like it or not?

[gyrene81]

how do you test something you cant put in production? if we wanted to mess with a setup and try different things, what you're saying is that we should do it offline. if you do it offline, how do you get people in to see if they like it or not?

Do it like it has been getting done only put it on a calendar where everyone can see it and have a link available where people can view the details of the setup...then go from there. Come on Jaeger, when was the last time someone took a setup and actually tested it before putting it on the arena anyway?

[Dawger]

By test I don't mean public testing for popularity.

Every setup requires some amount of testing, even if it is just manually checking every field for the correct enabled types and that it conforms with the author's specification. I am positive this already happens in the AvA.

With an eye toward the future I would hope HTC could be convinced to give arena developer's some more powerful tools similar to what was available in the "other game".

A simple but powerful tool is the ability to run batch files of dot commands. That simple ability is a great help to any campaign or arena manager but before HTC would consider allowing something like that for use by players they would need to see the need and  commitment.

While it is probably true that the current setups probably need only a few hours of testing and checking I am hoping that the future holds the ability to create complex setups requiring complex and thorough testing.

For stuff that would need to be tested online I am sure HTC can create private arenas that would allow online testing ( if and when required ) before releasing a setup to the public.

That may not be the situation now but I see no reason why the AvA should not be a avenue to pursue further game development and tools for creating engaging setups.