What's up with the Orange arena and the arena's in general

[JimmyC]

In an arena with 100 people
30 or so each side
2 fronts per country
15 people on one front on big map
Slow action
Prime time you got 3 times that much
Just seems normal to bulk up the numbers a bit
More fair even

[Lusche]

I still don't understand how the arena cap is preventing anyone from playing.  Yeah I get that you may not be able to play in a certain arena but it certainly is not preventing you from going to another. 

Which is empty.

This is the main problem for me, not that I can't join my squad/friends/foe XYZ.

[RTHolmes]

I actually can appreciate the arena caps if it can keep a side from being so lopsided and disrupts the game for everyone. 

caps have the opposite effect to that - they lock in imbalance and exacerbate it ...

[TOMCAT21]

I tend to go to where my squaddies are. Now , If I dont like the map in blue, I will wait in the lobby for orange open up and vice versa. I would not go into arena with 20 people either, usually in that case, people are sitting in the tower.I would hate to see Flench go or any other player leave for that matter. I honestly do not think that the powers to be have the capacity to satisfy everyone.

[The Fugitive]

isn't it grand when the people we need to hear something intelligent and important from the most in this conversation have nothing more to say than to quibble of insignificant and truly minor side issues brought up in the conversation?

thanx for the amazing insight into finding a resolution for the problem.

....snip

Skuzzy post was a good one. It called "BS" on Flench's post and proves that "they" responded 3 times quicker than Flench said they did. Your off base with your comment.

Unfortunately it wasn't an answer Flench was looking for, tuff! you can't please everyone all the time. The issue isn't that HTC hasn't explained it enough, or well enough, it's that people refuse to understand it, or accept it because it isn't what THEY want. Again tuff ! Your comments of "everyone's complaining should clue them in" is BS also seeing as there are less than 1% or the people subscribed are posting on the boards. A vocal minority is voicing their displeasure. Their only other option is to STOP paying the subscription and move on. HTC has let it be known they are not going to bend over backwards and change things just because a "vocal minority" says to, so my guess is they are ok with him, and/or you leaving.

Skuzzy has no control on what info is released. Skuzzy is in charge of "Technical Support". One of his...and I'm sure one of his least favorite jobs, is to try and maintain order on these boards and answer questions on the technical side of this for the game. Subscriptions, populations, caps is NOT his area. If you want info on that stuff I'd suggest you contact the owner/lead programmer Hitech, or the Producer/programmer Pyro and ask them about it as it is they who control the game mechanics and all information about the game.

OK enough with the "fanboi" response, as to the original post, I to think times have changed and maybe it's time HTC take a new look at the caps, and/or timing of the start of the dynamic caps. As pointed out by Ack-Ack all of the info we have available is speculation and conjecture. Much like the score system the numbers can be manipulated many ways. Kills being down may have nothing to do with population numbers being down but just an over all decrease in skill and running away from fights....which of course NEVER happens in the arenas    It's TOTALLY up to HTC to figure out whats up, and how to handle it. All we can do is either accept it and play in their sandbox, or move on. For me, while it isn't as much fun as it was years ago, it's still the best game around, so I think I'll stick around.  

[Lusche]

. Kills being down may have nothing to do with population numbers being down but just an over all decrease in skill and running away from fights....which of course NEVER happens in the arenas

That's why I posted not only kills numbers, but also population comparisons, which showed how the arenas filled up 2 years ago and how they do now.
We have also data on # of active players per any given tour, k/h and so on

On another note, some people seem do misunderstand my point. I have stated countless times that I did not put up all that charts & numbers to prove that caps have caused a drop in player numbers or even in less subscriptions.
I put them up to show that active player numbers have changed, and how now the cap system fails to work the way it did.
I think was always pretty clear about that.

[BaldEagl]

All this talk about speculation and conjecture; It's clear to me that prime time numbers on-line are down.  It's also clear to me that activity on the BBs is down.  Neither of these observations is either speculation nor conjecture.  They are observed statements of fact.  Now I may or may not be able to interpolate those observations to conclude that subscription numbers are down but I don't have to.  The fact the lower on-line numbers are affecting the arena populations is enough reason to consider a change regardless of what's going on with subscriptions.

I know HT isn't quick to make changes; consider that painfull base taking order experiment.  Maybe he thinks things will turn around.  Maybe he has a hard time admitting a mistake.  I don't know what his reasoning is.  What I do know is it's time to revisit the split arenas and the arena caps.

I had more fun last weekend playing during the con with everyone in the same arena than I have for years.  There were fights of all types all over the map and I saw names that I haven't in ages.  Often when I log on these days there's two hoards facing one another and nothing going on on the rest of the map.  The smaller skirmishes that a full map produces have largely been lost except for during a few hours in the evening.  That diminishes play options and, at least for me, makes the game less fun.

Many like Titanic Tuesday, some don't.  Numbers fluctuate during a twentyfour hour period and at this point I'd say the arena caps, if needed at all, should be limited to that small handfull of primetime hours.  I'd be all for going back to a single LWMA.  Not only do I think it would improve gameplay but I think it would also make the community stronger with everyone in the same sandbox.  Maybe then those that don't like big player numbers would even repopulate some of the other arenas; we could only hope.

[Dadsguns]

...Often when I log on these days there's two hoards facing one another and nothing going on on the rest of the map. 

I would dare to say that this does not come from arena cap per se, but from {player} improper side balancing. 
Too often than not what used to happen was 1 side would outnumber the other two 2 to 1, this would of course cause the lower number sides to fight only the larger numbered side, hence your 2 horde front.   That does not happen as often, but it will always happen at some point.

Again, I still don't see the argument.  Arena caps may not be popular but it is in place and working to help prevent this from happening, not all inclusive, but from what I have seen the fights are better and seeing less of the horde as before, most of all fights are spread out along a front more than just having these two huge dars.

caps have the opposite effect to that - they lock in imbalance and exacerbate it ...

I disagree, I have not seen it that way for some time.  I play often and find fights are plenty, at least now when a side is being bounced, its not as mismatched as before.

This has more effect on the "pledge the allegiance" types than anyone else, for instance: if 500 {insert chess piece} want to log in and there is only room for 100, that can in effect be bad for the other two {insert chess pieces} if they only have 100 each.  This would of course lead to hording and all the other {insert whine} arguments.

 

[Ping]

I thought Orange at 2am ET limit was at 400.

Is it possible something was adjusted? Just wondering.

[Lusche]

Again, I still don't see the argument.  Arena caps may not be popular but it is in place and working to help prevent this from happening, not all inclusive, but from what I have seen the fights are better and seeing less of the horde as before, most of all fights are spread out along a front more than just having these two huge dars.

Let me guess. you did not play in euro peak time recently?

[grizz441]

Except some crucial data like subscription numbers and the business revenue figures.  We can claim the numbers are in decline but without knowing what the subscription numbers, whatever claims people make will be inaccurate.  We also don't have the revenue figures and as such, we cannot make any accurate claims that revenue has gone down.  All people can do is make assumptions and inaccurate ones at that.  So, while we do have a lot of data it's just all assumption and conjecture without the critical data.

ack-ack

There's nothing wrong with a good assumption when all data points to such a conclusion.  Lusche's kills/tour graph is actually a great tool to see how many players are playing.  I would reckon that the relative kill ratios from tour to tour are within 5% of the ratios of active players with subscriptions from tour to tour.

[The Fugitive]

I agree that numbers seem down, and I agree that the Euro guys are getting screwed. I also believe that HTC should take a new look and maybe make a change, if not that at least post a reason they are going to leave things as they are. Maybe they have numbers that back what they want to do. I don't expect them to tell us the numbers, but a post just stating that they have looked at the issue again and plan to keep things as they are for now, or that they are working on trying a new fix, or what ever.

[JimmyC]

  +1

[Ping]

  +1  Fugitive