Herding Arenas !!!

[SpinMan]

And the community seems to insist on whining about not being able to fly in the full arena instead of adapting and flying where you can.  Make it a squad dictum to go to the less full arena first. 

Problem solved.

Shouldn't actually playing the game be one of the top priorities or is it more of a social networking type of thing?

I still think 24 hour a day caps would keep the numbers between the two LW arenas closer because... they would be in effect all the time.  No time for the numbers in one arena to grow disproportionately larger than the other.


wrongway

Why not go one step further, have the server just switch out players at random to keep the numbers equal, one minute your in the HQ on Orange and the next your in the HQ on blue   HTC should be working on a "BETTER" compromise!

[THRASH99]

Please for the love of god do something about this.  I have no understanding why this is the way it is.  For my monthly subscription I EXPECT to have a choice where I can fly.  With the amount of time available to me to actually get on-line and enjoy some air time, I find it extremely frustrating to see this.  180/100 Orange 46/250 Blue.  If something does not get done about this I am canceling my subscription and wont bother your forums with my whining again.  At the very least some kind of explanation for why this is, cant we just have a cap of 500 per arena and allow those to choose where they fly?  Done!  Guess I'll go wash the car instead of getting some of my monies worth on-line!

Well, one thing that I don't get about the arena caps is that I'll see for example 111/100 in the orange, exit and come back onto the online arenas board, then I'll see it says 113/100. I don't get when the arena is locked and you can't get in, people for some reason are still getting in?!

[gyrene81]

Why not go one step further, have the server just switch out players at random to keep the numbers equal, one minute your in the HQ on Orange and the next your in the HQ on blue   HTC should be working on a "BETTER" compromise!

Yeah, great idea until you become one of those players who gets "randomly switched out" then you will be right back in these forums whining about that too.

Awesome idea...not

[palef]

So sorry. I got confused. I thought when you posted this two posts ago..."The social networking is more important to me. The fact that I can play this game with real people and indulge my WWII fetish with a bunch of like minded people is the best part of it. If it was solely gameplay I wouldn't have moved from AW to AH." it was actually something that you believed. I was apparently wrong and apologize.

You're still confused.

[goxwerd]

it is just silly to drop the caps that low.

All 100 caps do is make it so you get a 180/100 until everyone for the night logs off and it is 60/100 and 12/150

150 or 200 should be as low as they should go.

Sucks when i get on ready to do some flying and i see  180/100 and 20/150.  I just say forget it and dont bother playing. 

[froger]

How about just putting a simple note on the startup screen next to the arena numbers?  "What are arena caps?" You click it, and a simple in game note appears and informs.

Any 2 weeker or ignorant vet can get their information right there before huffing and puffing over to the bbs or the 'delete account' section.

(fixed)



best of luck,

froger

[kilo2]

     And the Anti-Fanboys come out to namecall and other wonderfully useful things.  Like it's a crime
to like the games you play. 

Who said being called a fanboy was a negative thing.

Its only negative if you can't see the other side of an argument, complaint, whine etc.....

[bmwgs]

Well, one thing that I don't get about the arena caps is that I'll see for example 111/100 in the orange, exit and come back onto the online arenas board, then I'll see it says 113/100. I don't get when the arena is locked and you can't get in, people for some reason are still getting in?!

What happens is the cap is constantly changing.  It goes up and down.  A lot of players are bouncing in and out of other arenas trying to get into a specific arena because of the numbers, squad or what ever.

As the cap. numbers go up and down, player that are bouncing back and forth may eventually see the number below the cap. On one of their back and forth bounces, they may see the cap is 199/200.  They now can enter the arena they wanted to enter.  At the same time they saw the cap. at 199/200, ten other players, who were doing the same thing also saw this, so they entered the arena.  Once your screen shows that you can enter the arena, its not a contest to see you can push the button first.  All the players that happen to see that the lower cap. are able to enter the arena.  Of course this changes the cap. so now the numbers go back up, but there may have been 2, 10, 20 players that entered the arena during that moment in time.

This is why you may see it jump from 202/200 to 215/200, for a given moment in time the cap. lowered, and several players at that given moment were able to entered the arena, which then effected the cap. by causing it to go up.

At least I think that's how it works.   

Fred

[bj229r]

I find it slightly annoying at times, but I don't fly with a much of a group. At any rate, the "280 of 200" thing never lasts more than 10-15 min.

[Greziz]

I am with spin on this having caps is just plain frustrating and annoying. Also the way you all just snobbishly and elitestly write off people LEGITIMATE complaints of a game doesn't help this community you be a big enough arse and no one will stay to long if they game is getting on their last nerve and you just troll them out for finnally standing and saying I am tired of caps limiting my gameplay or I am tired of said other complaints you might just be permenently alienating yet another friend you could be sharing good kills or sorties with. Last I checked I have never seen more than 600 people logged into this game at once. Last time I checked that was a very fine line in the internet Massively Multiplayer Games, This fine line is the line of staying afloat and playable to just one day slowly dieing like a kid with a fever. This slow decay happens when person a leaves and the game loses a friend possibly slowly bringing person b down to where he leaves which could always cause some one else to decide to move on especially if these people are friends well you lose enough people the servers start to get a little ghost towny soon you only have 1 arena then soon your game could just be dead. I would rather with all my heart see this game thrive I want to see aces high2 have 4 latewar servers with about 100-200 people in each and every server 24/7 The game is a very hardcore game though so the majority of the market cant handle the lack of instant satisfication and bail early to go play ace combat or something similar however a game like this and EVE online can all thrive and flourish given time and a lack of effort to RUN people out. By the way eve is a space mmorpg that almost went under a couple of times because of how hardcore it is and unforgiving however almost 6-8 years later I haven't followed it to closely it now has world wide popularity and is one of the few mmorpgs that has lasted the long haul against the wow giant.

[Lusche]

. At any rate, the "280 of 200" thing never lasts more than 10-15 min.

At the time you are flying at, maybe.
At my prime time, it lasts for extend periods.

[Rino]

Who said being called a fanboy was a negative thing.

Its only negative if you can't see the other side of an argument, complaint, whine etc.....

     Well I've been here right around a decade, and the only person who was ever not meant it
as an insult was AKAK when he called me Phanboi.  So I guess I am biased by years and years
of it being an insult.  You sure weren't intending it that way in your post.

[BaldEagl]

I hope I can remember all the comments I wanted to respond to.

First of all, were'nt the AWI arenas limited to only 50 people?  It's been a while so I could be wrong but IIRC that about doubled in AW2 (or was it 3)?  Anyway, there's a solution for those nostalgic for the old days; make a bunch of arenas limited to 50 players each with pyramids for mountains that cause you to explode if you touch them.

That thought leads me to this next one; an arena with 45 players in it can actually be more fun than one with 200 people, particularily if it's a small map and everyone is fighting.  I'm not sure why more people don't just give Blue a chance.  For my own part I just log into whichever arena's open but I will try to change or even log off if the only one I can get to has a lame map or no good action.

That leads to this; for the most part it's easy to get into the full arena as long as you knock on the door a few times.  The only time that's not true is right after noon central when the caps first take effect.  I got disco'd during that stretch one weekend afternoon and just logged off.

I agree that the caps can be frustrating.  For me it's not a squad thing but I hate being disco'd and not being able to get back in.

In conclusion, I don't think anyone (except maybe the SOAR's) want to play in an arena with five people and no fighting so to that degree I think HT's come up with possibly the only solution possible, however, I do believe there are tweaks that should be made.  I think Orange should always be big maps and Blue always small maps and the caps should be 2:1 between them.  I think the timing of the implementation and release of the caps should be revisited, particularily on the weekends.  I think there should be some accomodation for a player who discos and for those in squads.  A few tweaks like this would alleviate a lot of the most frequent frustrations and still retain the intent of the caps.

I can't think of any other viable solutions even though I am a genius.   

[The Fugitive]

Grizz im all for choice and I understand the community not being able to self balance, but there is a better option, make a static cap, call it 300, 250 switch it up until a good balance is felt within the community.  Im no genius here but ive seen this game evolve through just about every eventuality.  AW,AWI, II, III, had many many arenas, most of the vets you enjoy flying with today I saw as noobs starting out, some even are still around that were flying a long time before me.  The choice of arenas is great for variation of maps and terrains, back when I played 2 or 3 or 4 hours a night and often more this setup would probably not bother me as it doesnt you, but now it affects me adversely and Im venting.  The thousands of dollars ive invested in AH and those companies before should listen to the community and if they dont then as the companies before will be superceeded ask HTC how he started aces high?  Folks were so po'd at certain ways the game was going and the powers that be seemed to not listen or were unwilling to invest the capital to effect the change to meet with the tech available to provide us with better value for money.  Nothing changes if nothing gets said! 

OK Spin lets do it your way. HTC sets the cap at 300, you log in and your number 310, that means your stuck in an arena with 9 other guys. Would that make you more happy than you are now? Seeing as the community CAN'T police itself the first 300 people on WILL all go to the first arena.... it doesn't even matter if its orange or blue, it's the population that matters.

On the other hand HTC's way has 200 in the first arena and the other 110 are in the second arena. Sure you still can"t get into the "200" arena, but atleast you have 110 people in the second arena making it more playable for EVERYONE.

I am with spin on this having caps is just plain frustrating and annoying. Also the way you all just snobbishly and elitestly write off people LEGITIMATE complaints of a game doesn't help this community you be a big enough arse and no one will stay to long if they game is getting on their last nerve and you just troll them out for finnally standing and saying I am tired of caps limiting my gameplay or I am tired of said other complaints you might just be permenently alienating yet another friend you could be sharing good kills or sorties with. Last I checked I have never seen more than 600 people logged into this game at once. Last time I checked that was a very fine line in the internet Massively Multiplayer Games, This fine line is the line of staying afloat and playable to just one day slowly dieing like a kid with a fever. This slow decay happens when person a leaves and the game loses a friend possibly slowly bringing person b down to where he leaves which could always cause some one else to decide to move on especially if these people are friends well you lose enough people the servers start to get a little ghost towny soon you only have 1 arena then soon your game could just be dead. I would rather with all my heart see this game thrive I want to see aces high2 have 4 latewar servers with about 100-200 people in each and every server 24/7 The game is a very hardcore game though so the majority of the market cant handle the lack of instant satisfication and bail early to go play ace combat or something similar however a game like this and EVE online can all thrive and flourish given time and a lack of effort to RUN people out. By the way eve is a space mmorpg that almost went under a couple of times because of how hardcore it is and unforgiving however almost 6-8 years later I haven't followed it to closely it now has world wide popularity and is one of the few mmorpgs that has lasted the long haul against the wow giant.

You can complain all you want. The problem is first, people have been complaining for years and guess what WE STILL HAVE CAPS! Why is that? It's because like it or not it the ONLY fair way ANYONE has come up with to populate 2 LW arenas. Hitech has said he will listen to ANY proposal to do it differently as long as it populates the two arenas fairly/evenly.  You can say YOU think the numbers are going away and the game will fail if this continues....blah, blah blah, but Hitech has said his numbers have INCREASED since he split the arenas and added the dynamic cap system. Without seeing the numbers, it's up to you to decide if it's the truth or not, but the numbers of people on-line when I log in seem much higher than before so I tend to believe him. 

Caps are here to stay. Work WITH THEM, it's a lot less stressful and you can have a bit more fun.

[Sweet16]

Been an AH subscriber for just about 3 years or $540.00 worth. This makes me a paying customer. I am a 56 year old retired MSgt. which means I pay my own bills. I do not like the caps and I believe they should be done away with.