That's assumming that each arena will fill up completely before the next one starts to, which is not what happens in practice.
Will it not? If I log on and the first arena is 80% full and the rest empty, why would I choose to be the first one to wander around alone in the other arena? I suspect they will funtion more as overflow capacity. The herd is going to try and go to the arena where everyone else is until they are blocked from doing so. Only then will they move to the less populated map. IMHO.
Indeed, with 180 players online there are 4 large hotspots. However, compare the number of players in those hotspots to the hotspots when there's 475 online.....when there's 180, the density of the big battles is far lower, meaning lag and warps won't be a problem.
Maybe, maybe not. Its hard to tell from those small pictures but from the dar bar, if to look at the 2 biggest furballs in each example they look to have similar numbers.
I almost tend to think that lag furballs have a natural size limit. From my own experience you see a big fight and go there. People continue to do that until the warp in that location becomes unplayable and then some of people start moving elsewhere. I think there is a natural equilibrium that limits the size of a furball just on the edge of unplayability. A furball that attains an initial critical mass will grow. As it approaches that limit of playability, people "tend" to move elsewhere. Assuming of course that the map is big enough that there is always someplace that is not approaching that unplaybility limit.
The problem is that on some of the smaller maps, with some nights attendance, the arena can be so chocked that there is no field you can launch from (within reasonable distance from an attackable target) that is not at the edge of unplayablity.
On the other hand:
Having a set of maps can fill to accomodate a large number of players by distributing them across a number of arenas. At the same time, at 3am CST the action can collapse down to a single small map so the euro boys don't have to wander around in a 90% empty map.
Also, having a set of 256x256 separate maps means they are easier to make and you can have more of them with more variety available any given night. That might in fact help distribute the population as different people who like different maps gravitate toward their favorites.
Also, the current set of 256x256 sized maps need not be phased out. We can just add new ones instead.
I'm not sure I completely buy the idea, but it is worth HTC thinking carefully about.
Thanks for the discussion Wab, always nice to see something stay civil and not degenerate into name-calling
Yes, it is pleasant to discuss something with someone without them thinking they need to demean you personally to argue against your idea.
There are certain individuals in our community who have based their WHOLE persona off that behavior. Verbal zingers and derogatory catch phrases don’t really lend their argument additional weight. I don’t understand why they think it does. Yeah, sometimes I lose my cool and get caught up in that too, but at least I can still recognize the difference.
Regards,
Wab
