Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Wishlist => Topic started by: Lusche on July 08, 2010, 11:03:37 AM
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The Premise
I Arena caps are necessary, because too many players in a single arena create all kind of problems for AH & HTC
II Current method is to let caps kick in at noon, because the login numbers are growing fastest at that point but
III There is an extended period (up to two hours) of very low numbers in the second arena, while many players in the bigger one are just logged in to secure their spot.
IV Even when both arenas have reached about the same level, numbers are still quite low in each, often being a limiting factor in gameplay experience for players in non-US timezones. Paradox - there are enough players online for a single healthy arena. But they are spilt, so that "unhealthy" numbers at a alter time are prevented
V Simply moving up the minimum cap number, or letting the cap kick in at a later point doesn't work, leading just to bigger disparity and more unfairness to an even greater number of players
The Solution: Kick'n'Boot
Goal:
- Having a more playable minimum number of players on the LW arenas
- being fair for most players
- limiting the transition time from hours to maybe 30 minutes.
The implementation:
- Splitting latewar arenas into one daytime and two nightime arenas. Both names have noting to do with time inside of the arenas, they are just for external reference.
- Setting a specific time by HTC when the transition between daytime & nightime arenas will commence. This is based on average player numbers, my proposed threshold would be an average population of ~300 players.
- this time is made non on the boards, per arena message, and will stay the same every day
every day the following things will happen automatically:
- arena wide text warnings 30, 15, 10, 5, 3, 2, 1 minutes before shutdown
- arena will get shut down, all settings are saved: control of bases, position of CVs and so on.
- player will get booted the same way like on war resets: No loss of score or perk points
- 2 "nighttime" arenas will appear (carrying over settings from the night before) with 200 cap that will be dynamic from then on
- sometime in the morning, the same goes other way round, nighttime arenas will get shut down and daytime arena will appear and load it's last "saved game"
This way, we keep the transition time to a minimum, and we are still able to win the war. People will get used to a scheduled shut down if it's really automatic & scheduled at the same time each day, and not working by SkuzzyTime ;)
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the only problem I see is when you change from two arenas to one, what setting do you use? From which arena?
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the only problem I see is when you change from two arenas to one, what setting do you use? From which arena?
You beat me to the question.
How about keeping the second arena's setting for when it comes back in the next cycle? One arena's setting would go 24 hours with the twice a day flushing of deadwood, and the second arena would be active during prime time. I assume Lusche is talking in North American time.
As an alternate, why not just flush guys who sit inactive in an arena after a period of time?
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Interesting proposal. I like it.
However, :devil, I think the wish for an average population of 300, even in one arena, is a pipe dream any time other than weekends or U.S. Prime Time.
For instance, 16:20 Aces High Local Time, there are not a total of 300 people populating both LW arenas. 145/200-107/250. A nice, even split.
Lusche Local Prime Time would probably have, with your proposal, a single arena with 100-150 people. I see no problem with that.
I just keep seeing the number 300 brought up. Seems we want 300 in an arena 24 hours a day and that has nothing to do with caps or any other currently "limiting" factors.
Otherwise, I like the one arena in non-prime time idea as much as the 24 hour-a-day cap idea as they would both serve the same ends.
wrongway
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the only problem I see is when you change from two arenas to one, what setting do you use? From which arena?
The "daytime" single arena uses the same settings it had, when it was shut down 12 hours before. For example, if rooks have 20 bases, bish 12 and knights 8 when arena shuts down, it will restart exactly at that point when it gets back online.
Same goes for the two "nighttime" arenas.
It's just like traditional savegames
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For instance, 16:20 Aces High Local Time, there are not a total of 300 people populating both LW arenas. 145/200-107/250. A nice, even split.
this is not the way things really are in ah. The numbers are actually quite different.
Seems we want 300 in an arena 24 hours a day and that has nothing to do with caps or any other currently "limiting" factors.
Oh yes it. has.
I was able to play with 250-300 at my prime time. Now I'm not anymore, just because of the caps. We still have 250 players online, but they are forced into two arenas of ~120 each. And this is exactly what sucks. US player can still play at those numbers. We European guys can't, only because of caps. We have to play at 60-150, so that at prime time there are two 300 player arenas instead of one 600 player arena. WE are paying the price.
as the 24 hour-a-day cap idea as they would both serve the same ends.
And what should that cap be at? 100? We have about 110-140 players for ours... does that mean we have one "full" arena than all the time and the rest of us is allowed to have fun with 10-40 only?
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this is not the way things really are in ah. The numbers are actually quite different.
Really? I didn't "make up" my 16:20 numbers.
There is still not 300 people in both LW arenas right now.
16:50 Image Capture:
(http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/8643/781016.gif)
Oh yes it. has.
I was able to play with 250-300 at my prime time. Now I'm not anymore, just because of the caps. We still have 250 players online, but they are forced into two arenas of ~120 each. And this is exactly what sucks. US player can still play at those numbers. We European guys can't, only because of caps. We have to play at 60-150, so that at prime time there are two 300 player arenas instead of one 600 player arena. WE are paying the price.
And what should that cap be at? 100? We have about 110-140 players for ours... does that mean we have one "full" arena than all the time and the rest of us is allowed to have fun with 10-40 only?
I am assuming Lusche Prime Time is right after the caps kick in. Noon-1400 AH Local.
I say, yes, minimum caps at 100. There is barely more than 150-200 in both LW arenas in the morning AH Local. Even with a minimum cap of 100, with sufficient players on, your number of 200 or 300 per arena would be possible.
Again, the minimum cap is not the point.
With your proposal, you would still have one arena with 100 to barely 200 people in it before it reset. Even after the reset, you would have two arenas with , what you term, an "unhealthy" 100 to 150 people.
I just think that 300 is unobtainable at the times you want, even without caps.
In a roundabout way what you are really asking for is to raise the minimum cap to 200 which, as has been stated many times in the past, would take the two arenas longer to equalize.
wrongway
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In a roundabout way what you are really asking for is to raise the minimum cap to 200 which, as has been stated many times in the past, would take the two arenas longer to equalize.
No I'm not, and the last sentence shows that you simply haven't understood my proposal at all. It wouldn't work anything like this.
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No I'm not, and the last sentence shows that you simply haven't understood my proposal at all. It wouldn't work anything like this.
I see "minimum of 200"
- 2 "nighttime" arenas will appear (carrying over settings from the night before) with 200 cap that will be dynamic from then on
That would give you two arenas after the split. One with 200 and one with whatever was left over. Anywhere from zero to infinity, but more than likely somewhere in the neighborhood of 50.
So now we have 200/200-50/250. What has changed? And, it will take longer for the 50 to rise to where anyone can get into the capped arena.
Minimums are a moot point. With caps at 100 and 292 people on in the LW you would still have 188/100-104/150. Caps at 200 you would have 200/200-92/250.
Everyone is hung up on the minimums. They don't matter.
Put 400 people on with minimums of 100. You would have 250/250-150/300 and everyone would still want to be in the 250 arena because 150 isn't enough people to find a decent fight unless the numbers are 150/100-104/150.
wrongway
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dynamic caps remain during primetime plus you get booted twice a day. I see that it solves one problem of ridiculous caps during off peak but overall a thumbsdown from me.
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I see "minimum of 200"
That would give you two arenas after the split. One with 200 and one with whatever was left over. Anywhere from zero to infinity, but more than likely somewhere in the neighborhood of 50.
You are wrong wrong wrong, Wwrgwy :neener:
You should look at intention and mechanism. MY intention, not what you are trying to read into it.
The numbers are just rough guides. Lets say arenas will split at ~300 into two arenas with 150. cap at this point.
Is that clearer?
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dynamic caps remain during primetime plus you get booted twice a day. I see that it solves one problem of ridiculous caps during off peak but overall a thumbsdown from me.
Actually, almost no player will get booted twice a day unless you play for 12h+. And with scheduled resets, ample warning and no hurting of score or perks I don't really see a problem. Before the system for winning the war was changed, we had almost daily resets.
Second, I see no way to get totally rid of dynamic caps. This is a way to improve them.
Because you wouldn't have a whole group of players having to face a 60 player arena all the time. So it is mroe fair for more people.
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I would like to hear from Skuzzy whether it is possible to "save" the map positions.
Everytime it gets reset the map is always default positions. I doubt it is possible :headscratch:
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I would like to hear from Skuzzy whether it is possible to "save" the map positions.
Everytime it gets reset the map is always default positions. I doubt it is possible :headscratch:
So do I. What I propose could surely not implemented right now.
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Because you wouldn't have a whole group of players having to face a 60 player arena all the time. So it is more fair for more people.
OK. I've been hit by the clue rake. The above statement actually clears thing s up for me.
I was going to argue that there would still be no difference between your proposal and 24 hour-a-day caps until I read this.
:aok
I'm sure no one will mind having to relog in the middle of a good fight. I know I wouldn't but, then again, the caps as they are now don't particularly bother me either.
wrongway
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I'm sure no one will mind having to relog in the middle of a good fight.
That's why I put the emphasis on regular, scheduled (=automatic, not by Skuzzy :D) and lot of warning messages, starting 30mins before "shutdown".
After some time, people would get used to it... at least, I would hope so ;)
Now I'm just waiting for HiTech to show up and shoot it all down with a single, humiliating logical jab... :uhoh
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of course individual players arent going to be booted twice a day, but there will be 2 times a day when everyone logged in gets booted.
getting booted is bad, with or without warning. when it happens for server resets with 15min warning it creates a 20min+ period when the action dies. and further time for the fights to start back up, assuming they are furballs. considerably longer for more strategic gameplay. every time this happens and I log back in, half of my squaddies have disappeared. immersion / suspension of reality falls apart too. makes the player feel like they are being manipulated rather than in control of their gameplay. disrupts the long term gameplay too, not a problem for the furballing quake-players, not great for those who want a deeper WWII combat experience.
I do see a way to get rid of dynamic caps, use fixed caps. if anyone is going to post "its been discussed a hundred times before and it wont work" dont bother, you havent understood the problem properly. there is no ideal solution, if there was it would have been implemented already. there are different solutions and each has its own pros/cons.
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of course individual players arent going to be booted twice a day, but there will be 2 times a day when everyone logged in gets booted.
getting booted is bad, with or without warning. when it happens for server resets with 15min warning it creates a 20min+ period when the action dies. s.
In my opinion, 20min period is much better than 2 hours at very low numbers due to kicked in caps, while players in LWO(or LWPink) are just sitting in tower reserving their spot in that arena ;)
YMMV
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sure, like I said it helps the players who log in during the day or early evening euro time, assuming that the timing is done properly. still leaves the same problems for the rest of the time.
what I really dont understand is why the experiment with fixed caps after the WWI arena, which as far as I can tell was very successful, was cancelled. overall numbers were up, gameplay was no worse than before and judging by the lack of complaints on the forum, the players were happy. the dynamic caps were re-introduced, overall player numbers went down and the forum was filled with complaints again. :headscratch:
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I was able to play with 250-300 at my prime time. Now I'm not anymore, just because of the caps. We still have 250 players online, but they are forced into two arenas of ~120 each. And this is exactly what sucks. US player can still play at those numbers. We European guys can't, only because of caps. We have to play at 60-150, so that at prime time there are two 300 player arenas instead of one 600 player arena. WE are paying the price.
Couldn't agree more.
And I like your idea also. I think it deals with the problems better on an overall scale than the current system. I think the countdown would be good if it gave notice times of: 1hr, 30 min, 15min,10min,5,4,3,2,1. Plenty of time to get that last sortie in.
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Couldn't agree more.
And I like your idea also. I think it deals with the problems better on an overall scale than the current system. I think the countdown would be good if it gave notice times of: 1hr, 30 min, 15min,10min,5,4,3,2,1. Plenty of time to get that last sortie in.
In particular the guy who is in on a long buff run.
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Players who are inactive for longer than 20 minutes should get booted out of the arena. This might help reduce the number of people just sitting in the tower for several hours having a spot reserved for them later.
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^ +1
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Players who are inactive for longer than 20 minutes should get booted out of the arena. This might help reduce the number of people just sitting in the tower for several hours having a spot reserved for them later.
20 min? Wayyyyy too short. 1 hour though? Now you're talkin.
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if 20min afk is way too short then you need to invest in some of this
(http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:knTaI72ap01TgM:http://lastrow.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/ex-lax.jpg)
:D
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if 20min afk is way too short then you need to invest in some of this
Or this
(http://www.mordenhomehardware.ca/SuesTackShop/StableSupplies/flatbackbucket5254997.gif)
under your desk :uhoh
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:eek: :lol
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Or This
(http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/523/257p.jpg)
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+100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 :aok
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You guys are missing the point.
This subject has come up before.
I have yet to see HT look on it with any favor whatsoever.
Plus your asking HT to make a game change where they are going to kick off paying customers.
From HTC's viewpoint, they really don't care if someone sits in the tower all day long, they've paid for the privilege.
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I suspect you will see something more like this wish I posted a while back.
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,288469.0.html (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,288469.0.html)
I don't think HTC will ever kick players from an arena, but as the numbers increase I could see something like this.
SERVER:The Blue arena is now open, you have checked the option to help balance the arenas
SERVER:Would you like to switch to the Blue arena now
And I think offering a small perk point bonus would entice the newer players to switch, maybe something like 2-5 perks in each category. This would have the added benefit of getting new players used to switching arenas, and that in the long run would really help the problem.
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I like the Idea Lusche.
Is it important to save the state from the previous day? Or could we just boot everyone with out resetting the current state of the arena. The save really isn't an issue, I would just open and close 3 arenas. I.E. open 2 close 1 in morning and the close 1 open 2 in afternoon.
Only real question I have is which will cause less complaints?
HiTech
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I like the Idea Lusche.
Is it important to save the state from the previous day? Or could we just boot everyone with out resetting the current state of the arena. The save really isn't an issue, I would just open and close 3 arenas. I.E. open 2 close 1 in morning and the close 1 open 2 in afternoon.
Only real question I have is which will cause less complaints?
HiTech
HiTech, I am not a win the war type of player, but I believe it would be critically important to save the war settings. A lot of the player base likes to be playing for 'something', even if it is silly like winning the war. They want their progress and effort to be rewarded and not washed away on a daily basis. Saving the settings will let them 'pick up where they left off' the next day. Without doing this, you risk driving off a good portion of the win the war player base.
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Ooops I was wrong. :)
Hitech you would have to save the state of the arena, or else there's little point in trying to capture bases.
Also for the sake of argument lets call them arena A, B, and C.
If arena A has map 1 currently in play, when it comes time to close A would you put map 1 (with arena A's current state) in arena B or C?
I think if it were done randomly between B or C then you might get a better player distribution as they come back in. On the other hand if everyone knows that map 1 from arena A is going to be in arena B then you'd be no better off than you are now, with everyone trying to get back into arena B.
It seems to be a hard balance between player distribution, and not removing the "win the war" aspect of the game.
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Can't the one arena in morning times just 'switch' to 'night' and HT opens a second? Kind of like when TT gets turned 'off'.
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just out of interest has anyone played any other game which uses a dynamic cap system or similar to distribute players across maps/servers? rather than just using fixed caps. :headscratch:
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I was thinking the other day, that the problem with populating the 2nd arena isn't necessarily one of overall population numbers but population density. 50-70 players on a large map isn't the same experience as the same number of players on a smaller map. Rather than mess with the map locations what about opening/closing airfields based on arena population? At first fields near the center of the map would be available then as the population increases a larger ring of fields has flight enabled, so on till at some point the entire map is open for business.
Ideally I'm thinking this would keep players in the same neighborhood, a area small enough where they would be highly likely to run into each other but not so small as to make the fight entirely linear (back and forth constantly between the same 2-3 fields).
Anyways it's just a random/zany thought that popped into my head this morning so I thought I'd throw it out there for discussion.
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just out of interest has anyone played any other game which uses a dynamic cap system or similar to distribute players across maps/servers? rather than just using fixed caps. :headscratch:
I dont think I have but it is obviously needs to be done.
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Only real question I have is which will cause less complaints?
HiTech
Of course not. People live to complain. :huh
Essentially it would be just like a map reset without the map reset.
Give everyone 5 perks for closing and close a random arena every day. Throwing the yapping dog a bone.
wrongway
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Ooops I was wrong. :)
Hitech you would have to save the state of the arena, or else there's little point in trying to capture bases.
Also for the sake of argument lets call them arena A, B, and C.
If arena A has map 1 currently in play, when it comes time to close A would you put map 1 (with arena A's current state) in arena B or C?
I think if it were done randomly between B or C then you might get a better player distribution as they come back in. On the other hand if everyone knows that map 1 from arena A is going to be in arena B then you'd be no better off than you are now, with everyone trying to get back into arena B.
It seems to be a hard balance between player distribution, and not removing the "win the war" aspect of the game.
You missing slightly the options.
Option 1.
Morning only 1 arena running call it A.
At switch time everyone gets ejected but nothing on the map changes, the arena cap becomes dynamic and arena B is opened in the same state it was the day before.
Option 2.
Everyone is ejected from A. And A is closed.
B & C are opened in the same state they were the day before with dynamic caps.
HiTech
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If I understand the proposal correctly, I see these potential problems:
1. When the daytime arena shuts down, the 2 nighttime arenas must be clones of the daytime arena to let every player resume the same game, albeit in 2 different arenas.
Imagine the whines when i.e. one chesspiece is dominating the war, then the arena shuts down, one arena saves the status quo and the other appears in default form. Now, when the playerbase moves in the 2 new arenas, probably 50% of those chess-pieces that dominated earlier on, find themselves with their efforts erased. I could imagine this as pretty frustrating experience.
2. If those 2 arenas are really clones of the previous one, then the problem above might not appear, but essential the actual choice between the LWAs is removed. We will always have the same maps in both arenas, and in many cases the actual state of war will be very similar, at least for a good while after the split.
3. Lets say we stick to the clone theme, and let the state of war evolve in both arenas. This could mean that the sate of war in one arena is vastly different than in the other. Now the time comes to merge both arenas into one again. Which state of war should be carried over? Arena A or arena B? No matter which one is chosen, there is a big chance that again 50% of the playerbase are dissatisfied that their efforts got erased.
Basically, I see chess-piece loyalty as a major obstacle and also fairness is most likely not guaranteed, unlike the current setup, which is pretty solid in this term.
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Option 2.
Everyone is ejected from A. And A is closed.
B & C are opened in the same state they were the day before with dynamic caps.
HiTech
Otherwise, everyone will pile back into A right away.
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. Now the time comes to merge both arenas into one again. Which state of war should be carried over? Arena A or arena B?
if i'm understanding right, the single arena would be saved before caps kick in.. everyone has to log into 2 (different) arenas... when caps turn off, the 2 primetime arenas are saved, and the single arena picks up where it left off, and the cycle continues..
seems fine to me :aok
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I dont think I have but it is obviously needs to be done.
seems to me that the implication of this is that every other online game with multiple servers is doing it wrong and AH is the only one doing it right. which is strange considering the disruption it causes to the players. I cant be the only one that thinks theres something screwy with this surely?
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omg my head hurts reading this thread what is the ANSWER!!!! :cry
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You missing slightly the options.
Option 1.
Morning only 1 arena running call it A.
At switch time everyone gets ejected but nothing on the map changes, the arena cap becomes dynamic and arena B is opened in the same state it was the day before.
Option 2.
Everyone is ejected from A. And A is closed.
B & C are opened in the same state they were the day before with dynamic caps.
HiTech
Other than the fact that people would need a half hour or hour notice ahead of time before arena A's closing, this seems like a great idea pieced together. But i have to say that grizz is correct. Saving the arena's state would be necessary or base taking would be pointless and win the war style combat would leave. Rarely have i seen any of these maps won in a time period of a few hours.
---And i doubt it will stop complaints but just change the reason to complain to i hate getting booted and having to wait a day before finishing what i started. The problem from my perspective is, is that with the dynamic caps in the two nighttime arenas and saving the arena state, people would remember the map from the previous day and choose which arena they want to fly in... Although the ones who are drawn to a larger crowd may split the difference and go to both arenas B and C more evenly early on. Overall i think this idea would help more than hinder the caps and the numbers problem.
Edit: My opinion only and just a refinement on other people's ideas <S>
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if I read it correctly, your proposition would be two maps at night and one during the day? I had to have read it wrong.
One map at night two during the day, would seem logical,
I don't understand why the arenas just cant be capped statically., IE capped at 250. (or whatever number works)
I suspect you will see something more like this wish I posted a while back.
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,288469.0.html (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,288469.0.html)
I don't think HTC will ever kick players from an arena, but as the numbers increase I could see something like this.
SERVER:The Blue arena is now open, you have checked the option to help balance the arenas
SERVER:Would you like to switch to the Blue arena now
And I think offering a small perk point bonus would entice the newer players to switch, maybe something like 2-5 perks in each category. This would have the added benefit of getting new players used to switching arenas, and that in the long run would really help the problem.
this is a great idea :aok
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if I read it correctly, your proposition would be two maps at night and one during the day? I had to have read it wrong.
One map at night two during the day, would seem logical,
I don't understand why the arenas just cant be capped statically., IE capped at 250. (or whatever number works)
this is a great idea :aok
Ink the other way around since normally during the day there are less people on.
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I don't understand why the arenas just cant be capped statically., IE capped at 250. (or whatever number works)
you and me both. works for every other game out there (unless Ive missed one.) I know theres still cons to it, but less than all the other increasingly complex solutions.
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I know this has been brought up more than a few times, and was even mentioned in this thread, but why not setup an auto-log out thingy? In City of Hero/City of Villains, after 15 minutes afk, you were auto-logged out by the server (unless you went into a mission). This would take care of those who like to stay logged in for hours on end to play maybe an hr or so themselves before doing it again. So maybe set it to where after 30 mins of no activity (sitting in tower), it auto logs you? The con to this is, they may just go man a field gun deep in friendly territory to prevent auto-log. The other problem is, if it is coded to where you are auto-logged while sitting in the gun for too long with no activity, may auto log you if you were afk climbing in some bombers. Sometimes it takes 30 mins to get to the alt you want to be at, mainly in Lancaster's, for deep strike missions. Some folks, myself included, go afk to do something during this time if we don't feel like watching paint dry. :lol
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if I read it correctly, your proposition would be two maps at night and one during the day? I had to have read it wrong.
One map at night two during the day, would seem logical,
I think snailman's whole point is, there's no need for 2 arenas during the day when there's less than 200 people on. the idea would have everyone in the one arena during teh slow times, and at the magic time everyday, everyone gets booted, and we would all rejoin the 2 arenas we know and love but more evenly populated. and vice versa.. the only people who would even notice are those who play during the switch times.. if you always play early morning, you'd always find the single uncapped arena... if you always play during primetime, you'll find 2 very evenly populated arenas, more than likely, easy to get into either one..
more i think about it the more i like it!
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how can there be more on at night? every night I am on there are a lot less people on then during the day.
I am eastern states.
I do play at different hours so maybe I am confusing myself. :cry
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how can there be more on at night? every night I am on there are a lot less people on then during the day.
I am eastern states.
I do play at different hours so maybe I am confusing myself. :cry
i think everyone means "night" is "US primetime" say.. 7-11pm eastern us time or thereabouts..
i.e. right now theres about 400 people in the 2 LW arenas... 9pm eastern
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Option 1.
Morning only 1 arena running call it A.
At switch time everyone gets ejected but nothing on the map changes, the arena cap becomes dynamic and arena B is opened in the same state it was the day before.
Option 2.
Everyone is ejected from A. And A is closed.
B & C are opened in the same state they were the day before with dynamic caps.
HiTech
Option 1 is surely the easier and more elegant one. But as already has been pointed out, everybody would rush to get back into A at all costs after boot, to finish that battle/basetake they had been at.
So I would go with option 2. Of course the current war status would have to been saved at that moment. But the more I think about that, the more I tend to believe only field ownerships & CV locations should been saved, not destroyed objects like town buildings or field ack.
It also would be nice if each of the two LW arenas would have a distinct touch that would make players more inclined to make one of them their "home", so that's it's not just all about whatever arena happens to have the biggest number of players. I just have no idea how.
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Option 1 is surely the easier and more elegant one. But as already has been pointed out, everybody would rush to get back into A at all costs after boot, to finish that battle/basetake they had been at.
So I would go with option 2. Of course the current war status would have to been saved at that moment. But the more I think about that, the more I tend to believe only field ownerships & CV locations should been saved, not destroyed objects like town buildings or field ack.
But will people like this change over more then the current?
Assume 12:00 switch over which it would not be, it would be later. My guess is the people who play from 11 - 1:00 would like it less, people who play from 12:01 to 1:30 will like it better. People who play 1:30 on it would make no difference.
HiTech
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But will people like this change over more then the current?
Evil question ;)
To be honest - I'm not sure. It's hard for me to be completely objective on that matter, for I'm the one facing the 180/100 20/150 at 7PM each evening , and we "euro players" hardly can play with 200+ players on a map, like we could before the split & introduction of the caps.
In my opinion, the main advantages would be the shorter transition time and the chance for more players to play at decent numbers.
The question is just: Is all that, all the coding, the intial outrage, and so on, worth the effort? :headscratch:
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:headscratch: I need to read this post with less beer and more coffee.....but I think I kinda like it...I think...maybe :headscratch: :headscratch:
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Tower squatters should be auto logged off after 20 minutes especially during the day. Anyone who is afk longer than that is interferring with people who want to get in the arena and actually play. 20 minutes is more than enough time to make a head call, grab a beer and make a sandwich.
The complaints about arena caps could probably be lessened by using percentages, changing the initial caps and a making a few other changes. This would only be for when the cap system kicks in. Set pink to an initial cap of 200 since it has a tendency to fill up first and blue to an initial cap of 75. Using something like 75% capacity in blue as the initial line to increase the cap in pink, once blue gets to 75% capacity increase the capacity in blue by 50. If pink is full and blue jumps to 90% capacity the caps in both arenas jumps by 50 and the caps remain until blue once again reaches 75% capacity then increase the cap on pink again by 50 spots, then rinse and repeat. Of course blue would need to be running a small map during this time period.
That's just based on the assumption that percentages aren't being used now to adjust arena caps, and there will still be people not being able to get in to pink when they want to but it could be fewer instances.
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That's just based on the assumption that percentages aren't being used now to adjust arena caps,
They are.
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They are.
Kinda figured that. So increase the initial cap in pink, lower the initial cap in blue to 1/2 of the capacity of pink then change the percentage of population needed in blue to activate the cap increases in pink...at least until 6 p.m. Eastern time.
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But will people like this change over more then the current?
Assume 12:00 switch over which it would not be, it would be later. My guess is the people who play from 11 - 1:00 would like it less, people who play from 12:01 to 1:30 will like it better. People who play 1:30 on it would make no difference.
HiTech
HiTech, as long as proper countdowns are given (Up to one hour), I don't think anyone will mind it.
The main issue will be selecting the appropriate time to initiate the 2 arena dynamic caps. As it works now around mid day, One arena is forced to fill up from scratch. This new idea would force Two arenas to fill up from scratch. What you have going for you though is of course the massive amount of players that just got booted who are coming right back in. Assume it is only the 150 players who were in the Daytime arena that are coming back though. You will now have 75 in Nighttime 1 and 75 in Nighttime 2 if you set your caps system up correctly. You are banking on the influx of nighttime US players trickling in right at this time for this to work well. Otherwise you risk having a 2-3 hour block of bad gameplay in both arenas. So in closing, I really think the 'switch' needs to be made around 5-6 Eastern Time (time based purely on observation of player spikes)
Now, the Win the War guys who were working on a map in, Daytime Arena, are going to be ticked if they can't get back into that arena if you don't save the map and go to two new Nighttime Maps. Imagine playing all day on Daytime map, getting booted, and then being forced into Nighttime Arena 2. That would piss some people off. If it got saved, they could simply 'pick up where they left off' the next day, no harm no foul. So for your two quoted proposals you posted earlier, Imho, you need to have all maps save during boots.
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Option 1 is surely the easier and more elegant one. But as already has been pointed out, everybody would rush to get back into A at all costs after boot, to finish that battle/basetake they had been at.
So I would go with option 2. Of course the current war status would have to been saved at that moment. But the more I think about that, the more I tend to believe only field ownerships & CV locations should been saved, not destroyed objects like town buildings or field ack.
I think option 2 would be the better of the two because it gives those getting the boot another "carrot". With the "boot" kicking everyone out to play in the night time arenas, those being kicked will know that they can start where they were in the day time arena, with the map "as it was".
It also would be nice if each of the two LW arenas would have a distinct touch that would make players more inclined to make one of them their "home", so that's it's not just all about whatever arena happens to have the biggest number of players. I just have no idea how.
I don't think we need this. In AW we had Euro and Pac and "never the twain shall meet" was pretty much the rule of the day. Splitting the community into "home arenas" no matter how you do it would hurt more than help. What is needed is a reason for players to throw away that issue and learn that EITHER arena is the best arena.
Tower squatters should be auto logged off after 20 minutes especially during the day. Anyone who is afk longer than that is interferring with people who want to get in the arena and actually play. 20 minutes is more than enough time to make a head call, grab a beer and make a sandwich.
While I agree that tower squatters should be booted there really isn't any way to grab them. If you dump tower people after 20 minutes they will just up a tank in some out of the way area a squat there. Then you have to figure out which tanks are squatting and which tanks are are spawn camping :neener: The mass reset is really the only way to get it all cleared.
HiTech, as long as proper countdowns are given (Up to one hour), I don't think anyone will mind it.
The main issue will be selecting the appropriate time to initiate the 2 arena dynamic caps. As it works now around mid day, One arena is forced to fill up from scratch. This new idea would force Two arenas to fill up from scratch. What you have going for you though is of course the massive amount of players that just got booted who are coming right back in. Assume it is only the 150 players who were in the Daytime arena that are coming back though. You will now have 75 in Nighttime 1 and 75 in Nighttime 2 if you set your caps system up correctly. You are banking on the influx of nighttime US players trickling in right at this time for this to work well. Otherwise you risk having a 2-3 hour block of bad gameplay in both arenas. So in closing, I really think the 'switch' needs to be made around 5-6 Eastern Time (time based purely on observation of player spikes)
Now, the Win the War guys who were working on a map in, Daytime Arena, are going to be ticked if they can't get back into that arena if you don't save the map and go to two new Nighttime Maps. Imagine playing all day on Daytime map, getting booted, and then being forced into Nighttime Arena 2. That would piss some people off. If it got saved, they could simply 'pick up where they left off' the next day, no harm no foul. So for your two quoted proposals you posted earlier, Imho, you need to have all maps save during boots.
To me the later the better, and I think the 5-6 Eastern time would be good. It gets it done before the influx of the US players and it give the Euro players the longest time on the "daytime" map.
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Figuring out when to the the switch is fairly simple. It would simply when when there are enough to fill up both. My guess is around 3 or 4 central, but I would have to look at the daily counts.
HiTech
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definately like option 2.
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Vote 1
proposal 2
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any chance you could look at the tower afkers for long times problem too HT? some stay afk on the game for hours. personally i believe this would relieve discontent over the caps also...
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lol, we have a squady who is afk for days sometime,lol. I yell at him all the time for it.
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any chance you could look at the tower afkers for long times problem too HT? some stay afk on the game for hours. personally i believe this would relieve discontent over the caps also...
I very much doubt it.
HiTech
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any chance you could look at the tower afkers for long times problem too HT? some stay afk on the game for hours. personally i believe this would relieve discontent over the caps also...
I very much doubt it.
HiTech
Yay.
Double entendre.
wrongway
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I very much doubt it.
HiTech
quick answer. i'll say no more then <S>
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I brought this back for Vox and those going on about the caps....
any chance you could look at the tower afkers for long times problem too HT? some stay afk on the game for hours. personally i believe this would relieve discontent over the caps also...
I very much doubt it.
HiTech
The nice thing about the opening and closing of the day time/night time arenas would be that no one would be logged on 24 hours strait "holding" a spot in any arena. With the arenas being opened and closed twice a day it would boot those holding a spot.
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if it means one arena up until 10-11pm euro time then we will be very happy :aok.
also a higher ratio of small maps with it. ;)
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so it looks like this will be implemented:
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,300387.0/topicseen.html (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,300387.0/topicseen.html)
, although the switchover will be 3pm CST/9pm GMT.
although HTC has said they will never kick players for inactivity, theres no problem with kicking active players apparently :headscratch:
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Doesn't look like a bad idea really. The European folks will finally have a better setup.
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it works better all around i believe. cant wait for this to be implemented...
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although HTC has said they will never kick players for inactivity, theres no problem with kicking active players apparently :headscratch:
No no no Holmes, you got it wrong. HTC has a problem with Kick PROFILING.
He has no problem kicking everyone indescriminately. ;-)
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I'm a newbie, but I can't see why can't we have only 1 LW arena? Servers can handle it on Tuesdays, so why don't we do it all the week?
Are those EW and MW arenas that important? Maybe we should have only 1 MA, WW1, Training arena and maybe some SE Arena that would host AvA events too?
Maybe the current way is the best way to keep constant war going on, and I find out few reasons to keep it that way, but there really isn't need for this complex system with this small playerbase.
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I'm a newbie, but I can't see why can't we have only 1 LW arena? Servers can handle it on Tuesdays, so why don't we do it all the week?
Are those EW and MW arenas that important? Maybe we should have only 1 MA, WW1, Training arena and maybe some SE Arena that would host AvA events too?
Maybe the current way is the best way to keep constant war going on, and I find out few reasons to keep it that way, but there really isn't need for this complex system with this small playerbase.
Before someone yells "search!", here in a nutshell:
Arenas haven't been split for technical reasons, but for social ones. According to HTC, the single old main was getting too big. Too many players resulted in an "unhealthy" game environment, mostly due to higher anonymity, less social interaction and more. Further they stated that it was negatively impacting the number of new subscriptions, and that the split arenas improved that problem significantly.
Oh... and while EW may be almost dead and MW hasn't that much action, you would have no gain from deleting them.