Arenas were only limited from sep 2006 on, when the MA was spilt up. And the caps were dynamic, no set to a fixed number. And player numbers were much higher at that times, easily peaking 600-800 in the two LW arenas alone in the 2007-2008 era.
These days, we generally cross 300 players only on a weekend peak time. During the week it's slightly below 300 now.
You are talking about the MA split. I'm aware of the numbers, I was there and I was around during the split.
I was talking about the limits we had all the way back through AW. AW was maxed out at 200 near the end.
AH had a 250 player cap when I started. I don't recall it being dynamic, I believe it was capped at 250 and no entry when it was full just like AW was.
And that's just the peak time. Offpeak low is currently at about 30-40 players, where back in 2007/08 it rarely dropped much below 100 at all (and these were playing in one of the LW arenas, as arena caps kicked in only at Euro evening/US noon). Averaged we have now about half the players online we once had when I joined AH back in 2005 (single MA). Also on average, players in GV made up 20% of all "inflight" at that time, today it's 25%
Again, I was there. Comparing the golden years of '07 +/- to the low numbers now is irrelevant. Fugi was comparing the low numbers now.... to the early days... the '01 era. That's what I addressed.
There wasn't a technical reason for a limit. If 600 players showed up they would have all been able to login.
In 01 or 02, if the arena was full, you were locked out until the numbers dropped. I don't remember that happening too often, but it did happen just like it did when AW arenas filled up.
No the limit was Hitech's, he believed that having large populations would limit players interacting with others. Creating an environment where players could be/feel left out. This is what lead to the split arenas we got when the numbers rose above that limit he thought was good. That limit I believe was 350 players.
I doubt he had any reason to be concerned about overpopulation in those days.
Density is just due to map size.
We aren't discussing player density on the maps during play, we are discussing player density as it relates to the number of kills chart you referred to. You compared the low player population of then and now and pointed to kill numbers as an indicator of the population size. The population has shrunk from its peak NO doubt but not to below early 2k numbers.
There are many vets who are only dabbling in the game. They don't play full time and guaranteed to be performing far below their potentials. AH could have 1000 vets that only play occasionally for a variety of reasons. They don't contribute to the kill counts like they used to. That's just one reason your kills stat is not a good indicator.
As it is one of the few things we can use to measure population I'm ok with it. If your not, show us something else that proves other wise.
I wasn't ever concerned with proving what the arena population is or was. I know it was generally lower than it is now and I don't feel the need to prove it.
I also know that AH had fewer GV's to operate in the early days, therefore there were less GVrs and more flyers because flying was the primary activity by design. By the chart you offered as evidence, a/a kills have are now double what they were in early 2000s. g/g kills are over 100k more than then. So it seems to prove numbers are up by your logic anyhow.
This argument is getting off course as usual. The game you remember has changed because after nearly 2 decades of playing the same old game, it has gotten old. Older players gravitated to the newer GV aspect in the game. Newer players play the game with the same bad manners we all had when we first found the game and the population grew along with the relative percentage of bad behaviors.
Yes, bad behaviors spike. Particularly during population changes. There is an ebb and flow in everything. But your frustration is not about bad behavior. You will never again have that old feeling you are looking for until HTC gets off their hats and takes this game to the next level... A level that demands a certain degree of cartoon professionalism and has an outlet for and interweaves every playing style into a single game in the same arena.
