arena caps-not a whine

[pumaclaw]

what i propose is no arena caps. i believe the max amount of players should be at 350-450. too high would make LWBlue deserted and it would get a few more people into one arena to get some good fights going, if we can just bump up the caps a little higher than it already is. im taking a wildcard guess here and i think there may be 25-75 people waiting to get into orange all at once. after caps are gone for a bit (from 200 to 250) its filled up almost instantly
discuss

i am ready to take some flame

[DERK13]

search bar!

[Ack-Ack]

what i propose is no arena caps. i believe the max amount of players should be at 350-450. too high would make LWBlue deserted and it would get a few more people into one arena to get some good fights going, if we can just bump up the caps a little higher than it already is. im taking a wildcard guess here and i think there may be 25-75 people waiting to get into orange all at once. after caps are gone for a bit (from 200 to 250) its filled up almost instantly
discuss

i am ready to take some flame

You're new aren't ya?  This has been hashed already many times in the past and we did have one single arena with no caps but the developers after careful study came to the conclusion that having such a set up was actually detrimental to their business and overall game play and enjoyment.  This resulted in the arena splits that saw us gain the EW, MW and LW arenas and so many whine threads to help provide me with hours of reading amusement while I was bored at work.


ack-ack

[pumaclaw]

You're new aren't ya?  This has been hashed already many times in the past and we did have one single arena with no caps but the developers after careful study came to the conclusion that having such a set up was actually detrimental to their business and overall game play and enjoyment.  This resulted in the arena splits that saw us gain the EW, MW and LW arenas and so many whine threads to help provide me with hours of reading amusement while I was bored at work.


ack-ack

not trying to go crazy here but....you really do spend some quality time thinking this stuff up dont you?

[tmetal]

You're new aren't ya?  This has been hashed already many times in the past and we did have one single arena with no caps but the developers after careful study came to the conclusion that having such a set up was actually detrimental to their business and overall game play and enjoyment.  This resulted in the arena splits that saw us gain the EW, MW and LW arenas and so many whine threads to help provide me with hours of reading amusement while I was bored at work.


ack-ack

meh...the way I read his post was that he was not just asking for a removal of arena caps but also an alternative suggestion of an increase in the existing caps and possibly a stop to cap fluctuation. I.E. set the cap at a higher number then what it averages right now and just leave it there but still retain the 4 main arenas (LWO, LWB, MW, and EW) we have now.  I personally have not seen that particular idea discussed here, but then again I have not been around these BBS as long as most the other people here.

(bolded to show what part is a new suggestion to me)

[thndregg]

This is an old subject. Hitech's decision will not change, as he has stated numerous times before.

[bustr]

Over an extended time with a very high CAP on an arena or none at all, players personal vitrol and volume of virolic attacks on each other magnify. This is a combat game which triggers those physical responces along with the loss of impulse control that is normal under such conditions.

The arena becomes an emotional cess pool and drives away customers because someones mother hears the game while her 10 year old is online to adults no longer find the environment enjoyable with non stop character assaults outnumbering actual missions to take part in. Hoards take on a vile rude life of their own because their members feed off each others indiscretions.

Look up Dunbars Number.

This is why Titanic Tuesday is only one night a week.

By the way...ack-ack and myself have been around about as long as HiTech has been. Did you know HiTech programed for Air Warrior while we flew those unfreindly skys?

[The Fugitive]

not trying to go crazy here but....you really do spend some quality time thinking this stuff up dont you?

He doesn't have to think this stuff up, it the way it happened.

meh...the way I read his post was that he was not just asking for a removal of arena caps but also an alternative suggestion of an increase in the existing caps and possibly a stop to cap fluctuation. I.E. set the cap at a higher number then what it averages right now and just leave it there but still retain the 4 main arenas (LWO, LWB, MW, and EW) we have now.  I personally have not seen that particular idea discussed here, but then again I have not been around these BBS as long as most the other people here.

(bolded to show what part is a new suggestion to me)

The arena splits happened years ago. HTC decided that arenas with over 450 people were killing/stopped the growth of his business. If one arena is locked at 450 and there are 500 people on that means on 50 people would be in blue, certainly no fun for anyone there. HTC came up with a dynamic cap system that fluctuation with the growth of the population. As the population closes in on the cap number the cap in the OTHER arena is opened up more. As the numbers climb in the second arena the cap opens more in the first. The "seesaw" of opening space insure that BOTH arenas populate more evenly.

[SlapShot]

what i propose is no arena caps. i believe the max amount of players should be at 350-450.

Soooo ... you don't want arena caps .... but ... you want to cap the arenas somewhere between 350-450 ...

[pumaclaw]

Soooo ... you don't want arena caps .... but ... you want to cap the arenas somewhere between 350-450 ...

i meant no caps/caps but with a higher cap

[AWwrgwy]

I just started saving quotes so I don't have to SEARCH for them:

WHY CAPS?

From Pyro's post on September 14, 2006

Quote
Originally posted by Pyro
I'm going to shut down the first thread due to its size and continue here. I'll start off with a FAQ of sorts on some things that were brought up in the original thread. Keep it civil please.


Why did you make this change?

We made this change because it will allow us to support an unlimited amount of players in a much healthier online environment that gives us better long-term growth. The single MA has grown to the point of being unhealthy. This is not a subjective evaluation, it is quantifiable and they are numbers that we look at every day. It's obvious that we simply cannot keep pumping more players into a single arena without hitting a stagnation point.


Why are you doing this now?

There's a convergence of factors such as current arena health, player mass, time of year and a couple of things in the pipeline that we believe will provide an influx of players. Taken together, we believe this is the best time to make this transition.


Is this being done for technical reasons?

No. While some people on lower end machines may see some performance benefit, it's not for technical reasons that the change is being made.


This is going to fracture the community.

We disagree. Communities grow and healthy growth requires structure. Just packing in as many people as possible creates a slum, not a community. We now have multiple neighborhoods in our community, but they are all connected.


The caps need to be adjusted.

The cap numbers as well as the numbers of arenas will undergo adjustment as needed. During the transition, we feel its important not to make them too large in order to overcome habit and herding behavior. Things will change as we move through the transition period and people begin to regain their comfort level.


We need better tools to find or communicate with people across the different arenas.

We agree. We have some host side changes that will be coming out shortly that will facilitate cross arena communication and hooking up with your squad mates and we'll continue to develop more things that will help in this area.


Are you crazy?

No, we are rational and unemotional about this. We don't undertake a major change because we're masochists; we make the change because we believe that it is ultimately what's best for the game.


Why didn't you take a poll or announce it earlier?

It wouldn't be useful to us for this change. We know it's going to be controversial. The real test is not whether people think they're going to like it or dislike it, it's what happens after we make the transition and things are settled. I didn't like beer the first time I tried it but I've grown quite fond of it since then. The transition is the worst part and we have no interest in dragging that out opening up a conflict of speculation before it even starts. We ultimately have to do what we think is best for the game.

wrongway

[Masherbrum]

what i propose is no arena caps. i believe the max amount of players should be at 350-450. too high would make LWBlue deserted and it would get a few more people into one arena to get some good fights going, if we can just bump up the caps a little higher than it already is. im taking a wildcard guess here and i think there may be 25-75 people waiting to get into orange all at once. after caps are gone for a bit (from 200 to 250) its filled up almost instantly
discuss

i am ready to take some flame

No thanks.   -1

[SlapShot]

i meant no caps/caps but with a higher cap

  you can only have one or the other ... you can't have both ... still 

[Masherbrum]

you can only have one or the other ... you can't have both ... still 

You mean I cannot have cake and eat it?    Either stare it or hold a fork?     You're mean Slappy! 

[Traveler]

While The Fugitive explained it best and AWwrgwy provided the factual explanation from AH.    The original concept of caps and the inner workings have morphed into what is currently in place.  If you have the time you can actually play when there are no caps in effect.    I have no life and after the last transition to the current CAP system, I started to gather Stats on numbers of players.  This is by no means an accurate accounting of the number of players in arenas but it’s the best I could derive from my observations. 

I only tracked the Late War Arena(s) and I seldom found a total number of players greater then 500.    The more normal averaged around 436.  That 436 forced to split into two arena’s almost daily at  5PM EST.  All in the name of ?  I forget, oh yea, good game play.   

If the reasons stated by AH as published by AWwrgwy  are true, then the cap system should be in place 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  To provide a healthy gamming environment and allow the business that is AH to grow.

I played in the old days of single arena and I”ve played today in split arenas,   I like the large single arena better.  I don’t see new players being treated any better or hazed any more today then 10 years ago. That’s not to say there aren’t some jerks around, and improper or poor behavior should be reported and AH allowed to take proper action against the offender.  It happened in the old arena and it still happens in the CAPed arena settings.    If CAPs were going to alter the gamming environment, to make the game more attractive to new players and help retain new business, well only AH can speak to that working.  I feel I see the same number of 2 week wonders.  In for the free period and out when it comes time to subscribe never to be seen again. 

Bottom line is AH will do what ever they feel best, mean while, I’ll continue to fly in the unhealthy environment provided by AH as often as I can and avoid that healthy environment whenever possible.