Suggested Specific Arena Times

[jarbo]

Not including Titanic Tuesday..... I would request the late war arenas be broken into 6 distinct arenas to support specific "time zone" play times.  



You could even name each time zone based on the continent it primarily supports.  Squadrons would likely migrate over time to distinct "late war arenas".
This could remove the need to balance late war arenas.

My 2 cents.  I welcome comments on why this is a good or bad idea.

Jarbo

[Avanti]

I see what your getting at but I'm going to say no to this because right now, the fronts barely move
and having 6 different servers... well none of them would go anywhere

no-one will win
and it will be very rare if they do win

my 2 cents

Avanti

[Lusche]

My 2 cents.  I welcome comments on why this is a good or bad idea.

Hmm.. Does mean we would have even more arena shutdown operations than we have now. I'm not convinced it will get more popular. Also, player still tend to go where other players are.
So when a player logs in at 0415 and sees a more populated Arena 1 than Arena 4... he will go to 1.

Or am I missing something? 

[jarbo]

Thanks for the comments.  

Let me use a different "notional" arena schema to explain the idea.  Good points Avanti, so I am adjusting the idea a bit.   I am going to use the current Peak and Off hours Arena times in this example. With the exception of Titanic Tuesday.  There would always be two late war arenas up.  One arena time-line could focus on supporting the traditional  "extended hour players", while the other could support the "map mover" concept.  



For those interested in "taking land to win a map", it can be frustrating to work one day to take a large portion of land only to have the map moved back during play times your life can't support.  Shorter distinct arenas that progress is retained until the next arena up time solves this issue.  But as you noted, the arena up/down times create their own distinct issues.  I think the new concept might be able two support both types of gameplay better.  I tend to go where my squad is, not where the bulk of players are.

In my example Arenas 1-4 would support a particular continent's peak play time.  One might be called European Arena, Americas Arena, Asian Arena, etc.  The times don't necessarily have to be serial unless there are HTC server limits.
Instead of having two arenas with the same basic purpose, size/map being the only difference.  The arenas are conceptually unique to different player preferences.  I think arena balancing might be able to be lifted.

Again thanks for the constructive feedback.

Jarbo

[Cid]

I think i fall in the  -maybe get an hour of flight a night before bed-  group of players.  I would really like if i could work on the same map continued from the night before (somewhat) It would give me more incentive to do pork damage, base captures, and strats.

Also i have not seen any map won by any sides since last February and i miss the perk bonuses.

I would be pro  multi time-zone continuous map program.

[guncrasher]

Thanks for the comments.  

Let me use a different "notional" arena schema to explain the idea.  Good points Avanti, so I am adjusting the idea a bit.   I am going to use the current Peak and Off hours Arena times in this example. With the exception of Titanic Tuesday.  There would always be two late war arenas up.  One arena time-line could focus on supporting the traditional  "extended hour players", while the other could support the "map mover" concept.  



For those interested in "taking land to win a map", it can be frustrating to work one day to take a large portion of land only to have the map moved back during play times your life can't support.  Shorter distinct arenas that progress is retained until the next arena up time solves this issue.  But as you noted, the arena up/down times create their own distinct issues.  I think the new concept might be able two support both types of gameplay better.  I tend to go where my squad is, not where the bulk of players are.

In my example Arenas 1-4 would support a particular continent's peak play time.  One might be called European Arena, Americas Arena, Asian Arena, etc.  The times don't necessarily have to be serial unless there are HTC server limits.
Instead of having two arenas with the same basic purpose, size/map being the only difference.  The arenas are conceptually unique to different player preferences.  I think arena balancing might be able to be lifted.

Again thanks for the constructive feedback.

Jarbo

just out of curiosity how will you make an arena focus on "supporting the traditional extended hour players"?  and who the heck are they?  and how will you force the "map mover" concept?  and what the hell is that?


dont most people that play "off peak hours" are divided into "milk runners" and "furballers"?  how would you...man I have a learning disability understanding written instructions and I can make no sense of what you propose other than you want to now have 4 arenas? why...

never mind, I am gonna have a drink and go play.

semp

[bustr]

Why not just ask for the game to be broken up into a dozen or so arenas with unlimited caps for a month and see how many players want to segregate themselves out into smaller and smaller groups of single issue focus? When HTC reopens hosted H2H personal arenas you will be getting what you want by default.

1. NOErUS Arena
2. Milkrunners United Arena
3. Furball or Die Arena
4. RunAway Fast Arena
5. Bomb Till U Drop Arena
6. GVers Need Only Apply Arena
7. ArmChair Admirals Naval Arena
9. Jet Jockys Only Arena
10. Rockets R US Arena
11. NO DR1 Arena
12. LW Orange MA Arena

[jarbo]

I don't really see the harm in exploring distinct geographic time zone based arenas.

Bear with the below over-simplifications, but here is
Players could be divided in two play duration categories: 1)Folks who play a lot (this is what i over-verbosely meant by "traditional extended hour players" ..it seemed clear when I wrote it.)
                                                                      and 2)Folks who either can't play a lot or simply don't.
Players also fall into two basic game-play categories:     A) Engagement based (go to kill other people)
                                                                            B) Objective based (go to do something strategic like take base or kill ord)  

Sure individuals can drift from one designation A/B from sortie to sortie, but I would guess most have a distinct preference.

I think the old system better supported the 1 and A categories better.  There was no good way to be a limited-play player and have a big effect on a map, nor retain the effort made one night on to the next.  
A set of arenas that had short distinct durations would support that category of player better I think.

Whether its 3,5, or 7 "short duration" arenas, is really something HTC could use player activity data to determine a conceptual starting point.  Or simply put a thumb in the air and make a guess for an initial wag.

I just think the "new" arena capability can be used to support a wider variety of player preferences and could possibly do away with the need for arena balancing.

[guncrasher]

jarbo you positive you havent been reading bustr's manuscrips?  . 

semp

[LLogann]

With the new arena setup, the one thing I cannot stand is the close-down.  And especially on weekends the last 2 weeks, it seems that it takes about 10 minutes for the new arena to go live.  Not everybody has the time to sit around and "wait, to play a game."

The new setup needs tweaking and this might be along the right lines!!!

 

[bustr]

I don't really see the harm in exploring distinct geographic time zone based arenas.

Bear with the below over-simplifications, but here is
Players could be divided in two play duration categories: 1)Folks who play a lot (this is what i over-verbosely meant by "traditional extended hour players" ..it seemed clear when I wrote it.)
                                                                      and 2)Folks who either can't play a lot or simply don't.
Players also fall into two basic game-play categories:     A) Engagement based (go to kill other people)
                                                                            B) Objective based (go to do something strategic like take base or kill ord)  

Sure individuals can drift from one designation A/B from sortie to sortie, but I would guess most have a distinct preference.

I think the old system better supported the 1 and A categories better.  There was no good way to be a limited-play player and have a big effect on a map, nor retain the effort made one night on to the next.  
A set of arenas that had short distinct durations would support that category of player better I think.

Whether its 3,5, or 7 "short duration" arenas, is really something HTC could use player activity data to determine a conceptual starting point.  Or simply put a thumb in the air and make a guess for an initial wag.

I just think the "new" arena capability can be used to support a wider variety of player preferences and could possibly do away with the need for arena balancing.

You are describing the new H2H hosted arenas. Be patient, then you can subscribe for your own mini 24x7 version of the game and shape it the way you are convinced is opposite of how HiTech is currently falling on his face. You will have a host of like minded subscribers who have the same conviction about the game as yourself to compete with or share ideas with.

I hope eventualy HTC has the Best Hosted Arena for the Tour competition each month. Kind of like those multicultural community fairs that have become so popular lately. Everyone is invited to spend a bit of time in each hosted arena during the tour taking on the unique flavor. Then at the end of the month fills out a survey and HTC gives out the award. And possibly HTC uses a H2H winners personal reality for a new MA attraction along with getting thier name in lights on the Forum with all the other Tour winners.

[killrDan]

I really like this idea in concept.  No doubt it would require some tweaking but the concept is sound.  Unfortunately, one of the oservations I've made over my few short years of playing this game is that the large uncapped arenas seem to bring out the worst in a crowd.  No offense to anyone but it seems that the scum floats to the top when the numbers get much above 200 LOL.  I'm glad Titanic Tuesday only comes once a week!

This concept could also be used to address that age old land grab vs furballer argument among players or alternatively, provide time zone oriented arenas.  It doesn't appear that you can accomodate every group with an arena (land grabbers, furballers, North/South American prime time, European prime time, and don't forget the Aussies).

 

Dan