Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: TheDudeDVant on February 13, 2011, 04:10:47 PM
-
Its time for a change.
Many things have changed in Aces High.. Land capture systems, play style, new planes, new tanks, new players, but one thing remains.. We all play for fun. Arena changes do not promote that fun. Large maps with few player do not promote fun on large scales. Big furballs do promote that fun no matter if you're a base taker or a land taker.
Its time for a change! Vote ONE on this day.. or the next..
and for your listening pleasure..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knG4FULN5Ug&feature=related
-
It's fine the way it is.
My vote.
-1
wrongway
-
so this is about voting for what map gets put up next?
-
dunno but I've always dug that song
thanks :D
-
I too wish we could just have one arena and leave it at that. I've heard the argument that two arenas helps increase subscription but I have seen absolutely no evidence to back it other than a short term circumstantial subscription spike when they split the arenas. The game hasn't grown the way it was trending when they split the arenas. Maybe it is time to go back to One.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM8bTdBs-cw
+2 to offset Wrongway's -1! :D
-
I have seen absolutely no evidence to back it other than a short term circumstantial subscription spike when they split the arenas. T
Where have you found subscription data? :huh
-
Where have you found subscription data? :huh
I'm working off the assumption that players who subscribe to the game play the game.
-
I guess I'm just working off the assumption that players who subscribe to the game play the game.
We also have a huge part of players each tour who are on trial only and neverdo subscribe. And I just can't tell how big that share is exactly, and I can tell even less if their percentage has changed and by what amount. That's why I'm very reluctant to use the term subscribers myself. I absolutely can't say if that spike in player numbers after the split really had been due to subscriptions, or if we had just a time with significantly more trial accounts (tv ad campaign maybe?)
-
We also have a huge part of players each tour who are on trial only and neverdo subscribe. And I just can't tell how big that share is exactly, and I can tell even less if their percentage has changed and by what amount. That's why I'm very reluctant to use the term subscribers myself. I absolutely can't say if that spike in player numbers after the split really had been due to subscriptions, or if we had just a time with significantly more trial accounts (tv ad campaign maybe?)
And regardless, it was a short term spike, and probably had no correlation with the split. When I look at your 2010 data, I see a slow decline in game activity which in all practicality, must be highly correlated with subscriptions. I don't see any concrete reason why we should have two arenas to begin with, just a bunch of hearsay and the mythical 'cess pool' argument.
-
Just to clarify, I'm not against a one LW arena setup. ;)
Or more precise: One consisting of two single arenas - One offpeak and one peak, because of the huge disparity in player numbers in 24h
-
2 is always better than 1.
If it were 1 large map, and 1 small map, all would be perfect.
-
2 is always better than 1.
If it were 1 large map, and 1 small map, all would be perfect.
By that argument, 3 is better than 2, and 4 is better than 3, and so on. So by that logic, would ten LW arenas be a good idea? Not as good as eleven obviously. ;)
-
If you read the second sentence you might think otherwise Silly Grizzy. :aok
Now "think"
By that argument, 3 is better than 2, and 4 is better than 3, and so on. So by that logic, would ten LW arenas be a good idea? Not as good as eleven obviously. ;)
-
To be honest the one night a week that there is only one arena has some of the worst gameplay that I see the whole week.
Bigger hordes, more base sneaks, etc.
I for one am not a big fan of the one arena idea with one exception, I do think the offhours arena implementation has worked well. Even if it means a slight interruption in gameplay for the minute or so it takes to log into the new arena at switch over.
Just my $.02
Besides the only one who knows what the numbers are for players is HTC and I have found no reason to dispute their claims that the numbers had begun to sink dramatically until the arena split took place. Honestly, I can see why it is the way they claim. If it were not for the fact that I am limited on the nights I have to play, I would probably not play on Tuesdays.
-
This argument is never going to be settled.
I have always been pro 1 arena. I like TT and the action that comes with it, BUT can you imagine the whines if one side is getting ganged? The chesspeice loyals would have heartattacks. We have a choice now to say shut up and play or switch arenas. Leave it be..but I do agree :pray that LWorange=big map. LWblue=small map.
-
st my $.02
Besides the only one who knows what the numbers are for players is HTC and I have found no reason to dispute their claims that the numbers had begun to sink dramatically until the arena split took place.
I have never seen such a claim by them.
AFAIK the statement was "We were not growing anymore until the split / the single arena was limiting our growth, and after the split we started to grow again."
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.
Never I heard anything of dramatically sinking numbers prior the split, nor did I see them back then.
-
I still think that, among the other things, maps are a key point of AH.
More strategic maps, with canyons, DESERTS, WINTER, DOVER CLIFF,
RIVERS FOR BOATS, TRAIN TO ATTACK, FACTORIES TO DESTROY would forgot us about these questions.
Immagine the possibility to have some ack position into the train that resupply some town.
V1 and V2
:x :x :x
:salute
-
In this context... a very interesting short thread about possible multiple arenas from 2001, 5 years before the actual arena split:
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,4233.0.html
(but please, do not necrobump that one :pray)
-
I have never seen such a claim by them.
AFAIK the statement was "We were not growing anymore until the split / the single arena was limiting our growth, and after the split we started to grow again."
Never I heard anything of dramatically sinking numbers prior the split, nor did I see them back then.
My mistake then, I thought they said there was a drop in numbers somewhere. Point still the same, the numbers showed there to be a need for change and according to what I have read from HTC in the boards there was an increase in numbers again after the split and I personally can see where this would be the case.
-
To be honest the one night a week that there is only one arena has some of the worst gameplay that I see the whole week.
Bigger hordes, more base sneaks, etc.
I get the same impression.
-
My mistake then, I thought they said there was a drop in numbers somewhere. Point still the same, the numbers showed there to be a need for change and according to what I have read from HTC in the boards there was an increase in numbers again after the split and I personally can see where this would be the case.
U mean this spike? Pretty short term spike. Tour 80 was split.
(http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/1903/lwactivityindex70132.jpg)
-
Grizz choose to believe what you want. I believe that the arenas reach an unhealthy level when there is only one arena. HTC says that they have noted that this has a direct effect on whether the numbers grow or not and I can see how it would. I have not seen anywhere they have noted differently, however I am sure that if it was found to be otherwise they would change it back. I do believe that I have seen them tell at least one person that they did not do this to aggravate any one or multiples of people.
I am guessing that is one of Lusches charts from a while ago but I am not sure how he got those numbers. Did he get them directly from HTC? Is there a stat somewhere from the homepage that shows numbers of players registered with AH? I don't know but I agree with HTC,the arenas reach an unhealthy level when there are too many people in one arena , as I see on TT.
-
Grizz is German? :eek:
-
Grizz choose to believe what you want. I believe that the arenas reach an unhealthy level when there is only one arena. HTC says that they have noted that this has a direct effect on whether the numbers grow or not and I can see how it would. I have not seen anywhere they have noted differently, however I am sure that if it was found to be otherwise they would change it back. I do believe that I have seen them tell at least one person that they did not do this to aggravate any one or multiples of people.
I am guessing that is one of Lusches charts from a while ago but I am not sure how he got those numbers. Did he get them directly from HTC? Is there a stat somewhere from the homepage that shows numbers of players registered with AH? I don't know but I agree with HTC,the arenas reach an unhealthy level when there are too many people in one arena , as I see on TT.
Do you believe the arenas are healthier now?
Its hard to say what 1 arena would be like, but if its allowed to have severe disparities in the amount of people per side it will be awful.
No matter how many arenas we have, its not so much there being too many in one arena or too many in the other, its having lopsided sides in any arena that has the biggest impact.
You can not expect any arena to be healthy if numbers are so lopsided that it creates its own misery in and of itself.
-
Its time for a change.
Many things have changed in Aces High.. Land capture systems, play style, new planes, new tanks, new players, but one thing remains.. We all play for fun. Arena changes do not promote that fun. Large maps with few player do not promote fun on large scales. Big furballs do promote that fun no matter if you're a base taker or a land taker.
Its time for a change! Vote ONE on this day.. or the next..
and for your listening pleasure..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knG4FULN5Ug&feature=related
I still find that I don't enjoy TT at all. If the fights were like they seem to be in the Orange and Blue arenas when I fly them, I wouldn't care if it was one arena. But I've yet to see TT provide that same atmosphere.
-
TT was the day of the week I did enjoy most, because it was the only day I didn't face 150/100, 20/100 at the evening
Now with the new LW arena setup, it doesn't matter as much anymore :banana:
-
I am guessing that is one of Lusches charts from a while ago but I am not sure how he got those numbers. Did he get them directly from HTC? Is there a stat somewhere from the homepage that shows numbers of players registered with AH?
As I explained in my stats thread (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,306464.0.html), the number is not the number of registered players, and it is not the number of actual subscribers.
It's the number of players that had at least one kill or one death during a tour in the old main and "new" LW arenas (after tour 93) respectively. In other words, it covers all pilot id's that did actively play in that arena. Shade, trial or subscriber doesn't matter.
It was taken from the plane statistics page. I only have the same access to the data as every other player here has. And surely HTC won't tell me anything what's not my business ;)
-
I've heard the argument that two arenas helps increase subscription but I have seen absolutely no evidence to back it other than a short term circumstantial subscription spike when they split the arenas.
From Pyro's post on September 14, 2006:
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.
The game hasn't grown the way it was trending when they split the arenas. Maybe it is time to go back to One.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM8bTdBs-cw
+2 to offset Wrongway's -1! :D
When did the economy tank and mass layoff occur? How does that jibe with the slow downturn in the chart?
I and @5000 of my fellow employees were laid off in October, 2009.
Of course that has nothing to do with growth of a game....
wrongway
-
From Pyro's post on September 14, 2006:
When did the economy tank and mass layoff occur? How does that jibe with the slow downturn in the chart?
I and @5000 of my fellow employees were laid off in October, 2009.
Of course that has nothing to do with growth of a game....
wrongway
Maybe we should go back to one arena then till the economy "picks back up".
-
I still think that, among the other things, maps are a key point of AH.
More strategic maps, with canyons, DESERTS, WINTER, DOVER CLIFF,
RIVERS FOR BOATS, TRAIN TO ATTACK, FACTORIES TO DESTROY would forgot us about these questions.
Immagine the possibility to have some ack position into the train that resupply some town.
V1 and V2
Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner!
More variety = More fun.
:x :x :x
:salute
-
As I explained in my stats thread (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,306464.0.html), the number is not the number of registered players, and it is not the number of actual subscribers.
It's the number of players that had at least one kill or one death during a tour in the old main and "new" LW arenas (after tour 93) respectively. In other words, it covers all pilot id's that did actively play in that arena. Shade, trial or subscriber doesn't matter.
It was taken from the plane statistics page. I only have the same access to the data as every other player here has. And surely HTC won't tell me anything what's not my business ;)
I thought I saw that somewhere before. Thanks for showing me where that was. I for the life of me can't figure out where you got that info but that is probably due to me being a little slow.
I did notice a possible flaw in the Grizz's usage of that chart. You stated that in tour 93 the scores were split LW from EW and MW. Now are the stats showing prior to tour 93 showing all 3 arenas together while after that is just LW? If so then that tells me that the numbers could possibly be holding greater than previously since between tour 93 and 109 the average was equal or greater than all the arenas combined. This is obviously not going to be definitive even if the stats are showing split or not but just a possible interpretation of that particular chart.
Dadsguns I do believe the arenas have more lameness on TT than any other night that I play, though you are right to an extent, there is lameness rampant every night. It's just more so on TT, in my opinion.
-
I detest the split arena's. Two maps with the player base split between them, ruins the fights and promotes buffs milk-running to their hearts content.
-
I thought I saw that somewhere before. Thanks for showing me where that was. I for the life of me can't figure out where you got that info but that is probably due to me being a little slow.
Easy: Go to the Ah Scores & Stats. Select statistics. Select "Plane", then the tour of choice. You will see a list of all planes/GVs and their kills & deaths. The total sum of all deaths is what my "kills" is on that chart.
Next step: Click on any planes name in that list. You will then get a lost of all those that have died and or killed in that plane. If you do ti for any plane & gv in a tour, you have all the pilot names, between 4000 and 7000 per tour. if you want, you can then go and look up ther scores for even more info :)
-
-1
-
I thought I saw that somewhere before. Thanks for showing me where that was. I for the life of me can't figure out where you got that info but that is probably due to me being a little slow.
I did notice a possible flaw in the Grizz's usage of that chart. You stated that in tour 93 the scores were split LW from EW and MW. Now are the stats showing prior to tour 93 showing all 3 arenas together while after that is just LW?
Yes. However,
- LW makes up more than 90% of all MA activity
- almost all players active in EW and MW are also active in LW, the number of player never stepping outside EW/MW is exceedingly small. So LW "active player" numbers encompasses almost everyone playing in EW/MW too.
- EW & MW did generally follow the same trend as LW, and over the years even slowly lost more players than LW.
(http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/9653/ewactivityindex.jpg)
-
Going back to a single arena isn't an answer. Hopefully the economy will pick back up and then the arenas would have to be split again. The problem is I think we are getting back to an unhealthy environment. Check out the Orange arena on a Saturday/Sunday night eastern time. As it gets later it gets worst. I use to fly late into the night but now it just too frustrating with the hordes avoiding each other, the HOing and just general poor sportsmanship. I like flying in the "off-peak" arena. Fights are plenty, and there just seems to be less crap going on.
If the game play mechanics are not scrutinized and adjusted I think things will get worst before they get better.
-
But see that's the thing right there..... You may hate milk runners, but HTC doesn't. Why? Because some people pay strictly because they are allowed to travel with milk. Others only pay because they love the furball. And yet other only pay because once a day, after playing 4 hours, they find a 1v1.
So many different types of gameplay mean so many more paying customers. When one group takes over, above and beyond the others, we lose players. THAT IS WHAT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW...... But to be honest with you, I can't for the life of me figure out what group is too dominant. I see hordes, I see 1v1, I see milk running..... WTF?
I detest the split arena's. Two maps with the player base split between them, ruins the fights and promotes buffs milk-running to their hearts content.
-
Well Lusche I commend you for taking the time to match the players up for each plane to ensure that each player is not counted more than once as you move through the multiple planes. Can you say too much time on your hands? :D
While I see what you are saying about the very small number of players that never set foot in LW not moving the numbers much, I do believe there to be some small measure of truth to HTC's comment about the effect on subscription because of the fact that the numbers hold somewhat on track without adding in the MW and EW against the previous tours with those included. Simply put it may not make a huge statement but I think it does say something.
-
.... You may hate milk runners, but HTC doesn't. Why? Because some people pay strictly because they are allowed to travel with milk.
ROFL
-
One arena! Small maps! Bases close together! Why would you want it any other way, unless you're yella!
-
Its time for a change.
Many things have changed in Aces High.. Land capture systems, play style, new planes, new tanks, new players, but one thing remains.. We all play for fun. Arena changes do not promote that fun. Large maps with few player do not promote fun on large scales. Big furballs do promote that fun no matter if you're a base taker or a land taker.
Its time for a change! Vote ONE on this day.. or the next..
and for your listening pleasure..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knG4FULN5Ug&feature=related
+1000 on this, It seems just when things get cooking the maps switch, very aggravating indeed! :mad:
JUGgler
-
One arena! Small maps! Bases close together! Why would you want it any other way, unless you're yella!
Chartreuse :rofl
-
I've been considering the arena issue for a while. There's an option I never see mentioned.
What about 2 arenas- one large map rotation, one small map rotation, with no caps, all the time? If you want the large arena/large fights style of gameplay, odds are you're going to find it in Orange. If you want the small map/smaller fight gameplay, odds are you're going to be more likely to find it in Blue. It would give people the option to go to either, giving TT-style gameplay in Orange for those who like it, and smaller numbers in Blue. Unless through some oddity the numbers split almost evenly between the two, even then, different map size would result in different gameplay between the two arenas.
I would respectfully submit that between 2006 and now, the playerbase is probably much more used to the idea of a massive multiplayer online game, and that being one of 700 as opposed to one of 250 might not be that big of a deal to people compared to what it was 5 years ago. I think the newer players tend to have much less problem just being a face in the crowd, or finding a small group within the large crowd to become friends with. I think the average online gamer is just not intimidated by large numbers anymore, but have no trouble believing it would've been a factor in 2006.
Wiley.
-
not sure how helpful nowing subscriber numbers really are. There are so many factors, I would imagine anyway, that contribute to subscriber base. Economy certainly plays a factor. Other factors that may contribute, gameplay, time of year, community, game changes, interest in genre, advertising, etc. We also don't have access to complaints filed, noob retention, or vet burnout. Maybe HTC views larger populated arena's to be "unruly" and worries effects won't just cause people to not sign up, but eventually cause larger sub loss. Numbers and charts are great, when you have all the numbers needed to really make any sense of it all, imho.
I do dislike the large maps with less people (actually never liked the large maps at all), and sometimes it's a annoying trying to get into the arena you want. Don't fly all that much anymore, but in the times I have, can't say I've had more fun on Tuesday. In the past I've really liked the idea of the split arena's, not really sure of what opinion I have now. 200 generally seems about the same and I can't remember if the swarms were worse. We've also had other gameplay changes since.
I don't see the arena's "ruining" the fight, players do that. Though I don't think the larger maps encourage fights.
-
If I had to deal with Titanic Tuesday every night of the week it would make me very sad.
-
I've been considering the arena issue for a while. There's an option I never see mentioned.
Wiley.
You would have one unhealthy arena with 400 people and one arena with 20 people.
Herd follows the herd first, maps second.
wrongway
-
You would have one unhealthy arena with 400 people and one arena with 20 people.
Herd follows the herd first, maps second.
wrongway
Would there be that few in Blue? On Tuesdays it seems I hear around 10-15 guys going on about how much TT sucks. Seems to me if there's that many who are vocal, there'd be a half-decent sized group of people who would not want large arena play and gravitate to the smaller arena, wouldn't they?
Also, as I said before I've got a sneaking suspicion that 400ish people may not be all that horribly 'unhealthy' anymore. A lot has changed in online gaming since 2006. It strikes me odd that single arena play is supposedly a problem, when I log in on TT and see ~600 people on, and on other weekdays, the total of the two LW arenas is ~400.
I realize it could possibly be because it's not all the time, but I don't believe that's the case entirely.
Wiley.
-
Its time for a change.
Many things have changed in Aces High.. Land capture systems, play style, new planes, new tanks, new players, but one thing remains.. We all play for fun. Arena changes do not promote that fun. Large maps with few player do not promote fun on large scales. Big furballs do promote that fun no matter if you're a base taker or a land taker.
Its time for a change! Vote ONE on this day.. or the next..
and for your listening pleasure..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knG4FULN5Ug&feature=related
Not everyone thinks furballs are fun and vice versa.... I vote for the option of both... :salute
-
What about 2 arenas- one large map rotation, one small map rotation, with no caps, all the time? If you want the large arena/large fights style of gameplay, odds are you're going to find it in Orange. If you want the small map/smaller fight gameplay, odds are you're going to be more likely to find it in Blue. It would give people the option to go to either, giving TT-style gameplay in Orange for those who like it, and smaller numbers in Blue.
thats long been my wish. worked great when it was set up this way (if only for 6 weeks :(). of all the methods its the simplest and most elegant in terms of player choice.
see my sig ;)
-
You would have one unhealthy arena with 400 people and one arena with 20 people.
400 would only be an "unhealthy" number to the 20 people in the small arena. and they arent playing in what they consider an "unhealthy" arena, so it doesnt effect them. everyones happy.
-
400 would only be an "unhealthy" number to the 20 people in the small arena. and they arent playing in what they consider an "unhealthy" arena, so it doesnt effect them. everyones happy.
It only affects the people that want to fly in a medium populated world which would be impossible with that configuration, but I don't see it as a big deal. Overall I think one arena would be best, until the game starts growing to that arbitrary tipping point again.
-
I've been considering the arena issue for a while. There's an option I never see mentioned.
What about 2 arenas- one large map rotation, one small map rotation, with no caps, all the time? Wiley.
This would never work, if you're gonna have 2 arenas then they have to be equal as they are now! Just imagine the BBS whiiiiiines of "so&so" came into scoretard arena and shot everyone down, so&so should be banned! The constant din of " HI TECH" DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!! would be deafening.
A single arena is best IMO.
JUGgler
-
Would there be that few in Blue? On Tuesdays it seems I hear around 10-15 guys going on about how much TT sucks. Seems to me if there's that many who are vocal, there'd be a half-decent sized group of people who would not want large arena play and gravitate to the smaller arena, wouldn't they?
Also, as I said before I've got a sneaking suspicion that 400ish people may not be all that horribly 'unhealthy' anymore. A lot has changed in online gaming since 2006. It strikes me odd that single arena play is supposedly a problem, when I log in on TT and see ~600 people on, and on other weekdays, the total of the two LW arenas is ~400.
I realize it could possibly be because it's not all the time, but I don't believe that's the case entirely.
Wiley.
I agree with wrongway. One arena would have 400, the other would be made up of the milkrunners hiding from fights, and a few of the fighter types "looking" for a fight. After chasing the hiding milkrunners, they would move over to Orange just for the targets in the hopes or running into someone who wants to fight.
I like flying Saturday afternoon in the "off hours" arena. There seems to be a nice class of people in there, doing all kinds of things be it landgrabbing, or GV battles, small fights, or big ones. After the switch I know my fun is limited, I have maybe an hour or so. I'll start in orange as that the arena that fills the quickest. Before long the dweebery really gets going. HOs increase as quick as the population, hordes for, and missions that were running 10-15 guys are now over 25. Defenders don't bother to up any more. So now I either join the horde my country is running, or I try to fight against one of the two hordes attacking us. Switching countries doesn't matter now, because it looks the same from each side. Time to switch arenas.
Blue has lower numbers most of the time, but the dweebery is still running rampant, only with smaller numbers :rolleyes: Yes in all of this you can hunt down a fight here and there sometimes. Maybe hang out outside the horde and get a guy to follow you out and go at it. Problem is he's calling for help before he's made his first pass because I won't let him come at me with a HO.
This along with new players getting lost in the shuffle is the reason the arenas split in the first place. The game is a bit over whelming in and of it's self, add in idiots that do nothing but mouth off on 200, give BS info to the new guys as a joke, or just plain ignore them because people are on "teamspeak" or skype" and can't be bothered talking to a nobody and people wonder why the numbers aren't growing like they use to.
Not that Hitech would listen to me, but this is what I might do if it was mine.
1. Turn the training arena into the newbi arena. First time in you go to Ready Room 1, a mission is layed out on a board, with instructions on how to accomplish the mission. First mission is pick a plane, get out to the runway, start up, roll down, take off, circle the field and land on the runway. When you tower out if you do so from the landed plane you get a "Congrats" and are sent to RR 2, if anything other than a completion, its back to RR 1 and a retry. 3 strikes and you get a date with a trainer. RR@ has you shoot down the drones, RR3 has you dive bomb radar tower :devil , RR4 has you bomb a town from a buff. Once you complete the "school" of 5 or 6 missions you graduate and are allowed into the Mains. Heck make the "training arena" a free arena, with the lessons being the simple stuff just to get you rolling it would only be a handfull of hours anyway. Once completed, your locked out out.
2. get rid of outside coms, no skype, no teamspeak, no roger wilco, nothing but the ingame coms. People feel isolated enough as it is not knowing what they are doing, isolating them by talking on a channel they can't get isolates them more. If "chatting" is more important to you, I hear AOL still has chat rooms available.
3. horde busting. whether its localized ENY, tying the town down percentage to the number of attackers inside the radar circle or some other means the horde must be penalized, or just flat busted. A new guy might like to hide in a horde for saftey, but in the long run it's not going to help him get better at the game. Like the stall limiter, while it helps a newb fly with out the frustration of stalls and such, it's the first thing EVERYONE tells a newb to turn off! The same goes for the the guy hiding in the horde. If he sucks at hitting a target with his bomb he will continue to suck because there really isn't a reason to get better as his 25 buddies has his back.
4. Moderators. They have to be a bit more heavy handed, and while their identities MUST be kept under wraps, their "presents" in the arenas MUST be more visible. A police cruiser parked across the street from a stop sign will cause more people to come to a COMPLETE halt than handing out tickets. If their was a "host" message stating so-and-so has been muted for 10 minutes for blah,blah,blah will go a long way in curbing some of the excessive heated chatter. Newbs will see that there are controls in place, the regular crowd will know better than to step across the line (after all we ALL know where the line is even if we don't want to admit it), and newbs won't be hammered so bad with BS info as the Mods can and should step in to halt it.
I understand that the game brings out the competitive side of everyone, a good game should. But I'm not going to go to a pool hall if there are fights going on all the time, and the cops are always asking me what I saw before the bullets started flying. You want a good game of pool, ok lets go, you want to argue about pool, or shout as I shoot, or keep spilling my drink when I'm shooting, I'm out of here. I'm here to have fun, and that isn't the kind of fun I think HTC is selling. What do I know. I've been here almost 10 years and hopefully will be for another 10 at least. I think things are starting to get out of hand, but maybe thats the way HTC intends them to go. I hope not.
-
It only affects the people that want to fly in a medium populated world which would be impossible with that configuration, but I don't see it as a big deal. Overall I think one arena would be best, until the game starts growing to that arbitrary tipping point again.
The arbitrary number, IIRC is +/-200ish.
wrongway
-
Aces High is an example of the customer does not know best! :)
-
The arbitrary number, IIRC is +/-200ish.
wrongway
200 is close to my arbitrary number that is the minimum to have a fun time, and I have heard HiTech voice similar sentiment. The arbitrary "tipping point" number should be higher than that. 450? 500? 600?
-
There hasn't been a single change to a single line of code in this game that has ruined the level of fun.
The only factor that defines 'fun' is the person/s you are fighting against.
Fighting a horde? The code didn't make the horde, the players did.
Got Ho'd? The code didn't do that. You're a victim of the player base.
Got your base taken? It wasn't the code.
Hangers are down? Players did it.
Until the player base realises that it and it alone is what is bringing the fun to it's knees, the gameplay will continue to suffer.
The player base never will.
-
Titanic Tuesdays, and before-the-split heavy nights were rife with lag... Text lag. Rubber bullets. Landing hits, being TOLD I'd landed hits, but not seeing hit sprites (yes, this happened more than once, talked about it with the guy afterwards, he said he was getting the same thing). Warping. Jumpy positional updates. More lag/stutters as things lurched into view while you were processing other stuff nearby. VOX going out... in MULTIPLE arenas (remember when AvA lost vox every Tuesday because TT was running? They're on the same server). Too many things documented by too many sources to discount.
Frankly, the server cannot HANDLE running full out like that. I know HTC says otherwise, but something somewhere in the chain of hardware makes it an undesirable situation for us (the players) to endure. I'm not blaming HTC or anything in particular, I'm just saying the end result didn't work and they did something about it.
Now, what they did will not please everybody. However, it did something. How often do you lose vox or UDP in the MAs with Blue/Orange running? It's not nearly as common as it used to be. Heck, folks are surviving UDP loss a lot more as well, including retaining use of VOX.
All I'm saying is you few asking for 1 arena back (or asking for no caps back) are only asking for more headache and strife as well.
-
Krusty: The vox losses was a simple bug.
HiTech
-
This would never work, if you're gonna have 2 arenas then they have to be equal as they are now! Just imagine the BBS whiiiiiines of "so&so" came into scoretard arena and shot everyone down, so&so should be banned! The constant din of " HI TECH" DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!! would be deafening.
A single arena is best IMO.
JUGgler
The problem with a single arena is, it leaves no choice. With two uncapped arenas, there is choice. If I was only considering myself, I'd say heck yeah, bring on a single arena. However, there are enough people who really don't like that style of gameplay that I think they deserve consideration.
Who cares what the milkrunners say about it? It's not like the arena is set up for the purpose of milkrunning, though people would use it for that until enough people come in who are actually looking for a fight, and y'know, some fun. There's still midwar if you really want to avoid conflict and bomb undefended bases. HTC seems to be fairly adept at ignoring stupid whines.
People who don't want large arena gameplay would have an option, people who want large arena gameplay would have their large arena to play in.
Krusty's points may be valid, I personally don't notice those kind of issues on TT, but I'm pretty lucky with my net connection so I believe that's possibly happening to others.
Wiley.
-
3. horde busting. whether its localized ENY, tying the town down percentage to the number of attackers inside the radar circle or some other means the horde must be penalized, or just flat busted. A new guy might like to hide in a horde for saftey, but in the long run it's not going to help him get better at the game. Like the stall limiter, while it helps a newb fly with out the frustration of stalls and such, it's the first thing EVERYONE tells a newb to turn off! The same goes for the the guy hiding in the horde. If he sucks at hitting a target with his bomb he will continue to suck because there really isn't a reason to get better as his 25 buddies has his back.
The game has allowed this to get out of control, let me be clear: I am not talking about just the players deciding to group up and attack a base, that necessarily is not the problem, nor running missions is not the problem, nor running NOE missions is NOT the problem......
The problem stems from when the game allows the attacking side to have as much as 30,40,50+ players on its side before ENY kicks in or has little effect to attack with, while the defending side just has no chance to defend against that type of horde and as of late is the more common type of scenario you see.
When one side is so lopsided by as much as 50+ players the side with that much of an advantage can afford to move around these players to basically steam roll bases at will and still have plenty to defend from any attack the other two sides can muster.
So in effect what you see is just a massive horde that is created on one side which by attrition alone can dictate the map at will. Fix that, you solve alot of problems.
Keep in mind, if you have 1 arena with a large amount of players in it, this numerical disparity only increases and will be more severe than it is now if this is not addressed.
"FOR THE HORDE!!"
(http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj131/bayoubeach/HORDECHILD.jpg)
-
I'm still confused about the big map small map argument. On a big map, 90% of the map had no one in it. Doesn't that make all that empty space in essence the "other" map? If you don't like flying in a horde, go to the empty spot and use it like it's the other map.
Of all the things people complain about, vulching, picking, etc... Hoarding is the ONLY one that can be 100% avoided. Hordes are easy to see on the map before you up. If there is a horde area on a big map, just avoid it. Why is a whole other arena needed?
Even small maps have 150 person caps on them. Who many is a horde? 20, 30? The small maps all have hordes too. AvA has 20 poeple in it, and guess what? They're split between the two closest bases having a furball.
Arena size doesn't seem to be a factor in hording. It may affect the size of the horde, but that's irrelevant for anti-horders because they are avoiding the horde regardless, right? And avoiding a horde is as easy as looking at the map before you take off.
Is the thought that the arena caps will keep all fights to 5 v 5? We know it doesn't right? As soon as there is a dar-bar showing 3 or 4 uppers, everyone flocks the area where the action is and the horde forms over a short amount of time.
Hording and split arenas don;t seem related to me.
-
I'm still confused about the big map small map argument. On a big map, 90% of the map had no one in it. Doesn't that make all that empty space in essence the "other" map? If you don't like flying in a horde, go to the empty spot and use it like it's the other map.
this^ :aok
-
How about:
Our current plan is to create bigger terrains with 4 times as many bases.
Fields still remain the same distance apart, but it greatly increases the length of the front line.
This is why you have seen the max number of bases increased, and the changing of the map on the patch 2 versions ago, it was to optimize for larger terrains. Our current game plan is to create new terrains as soon as 1.09 stablizes.
HiTech
severly edited, and old.
wrongway