Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Kazaa on March 04, 2011, 06:35:24 AM
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I logged online at around lunch time (GMT) and my heart sank when I saw just 35 people in the "Late War Off Hours" arena. I made this thread because I've noticed a steady decline in player numbers during off hours for many years now, but never have I seen such a low population before for this time of day.
I have a question: Has prime time also seen a decline, or is the EU player base just dwindling?
(http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n268/Luke_831/Sucks.jpg)
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the last couple of hours of the single off-hours LWA still seems to be pretty busy, I'd say much better numbers than during the previous system. its definitely given that timeslot a boost :aok start of the dual peak LWAs ... not so much.
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It's 5AM MST, I'm not surprised. Unless your somewhere around japan you would probably not be playing aces high.
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Your in england kazaa. all the americans are asleep >.<
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You're correct, we're asleep. :rolleyes:
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It's 5AM MST, I'm not surprised.
The point is, while this always had been the least busy time in AH, 2.5 years ago we would have seen around 100 players on the login screen.
Based on my subjective perception: While overall number of players logged in at any given time had dropped over the last 2-3 years, the loss of player at offpeak times has been disproportional high. And this is a trend going on for a long time now.
And I think now comes a snowball effect into play: People may tend to concentrate or shift their play time to a later time, just because there are relatively few players online. Just as a near empty EW or MW makes players chose a different arena. Now they log on, see 50 players and decide to come back later that day. This seems to be supported by the fact that the offpeak arena at euro prime time seems still to run quite well, in regards to palyer numbers.
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You're correct, we're asleep. :rolleyes:
Yet were all responding :noid :bolt:
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the last couple of hours of the single off-hours LWA still seems to be pretty busy, I'd say much better numbers than during the previous system. its definitely given that timeslot a boost :aok start of the dual peak LWAs ... not so much.
For sure, could you imagine having two LW arenas, with 17 or so people in each, with huge maps like Compello. :uhoh
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The point is, while this always had been the least busy time in AH, 2.5 years ago we would have seen around 100 players on the login screen.
Based on my subjective perception: While overall number of players logged in at any given time had dropped over the last 2-3 years, the loss of player at offpeak times has been disproportional high. And this is a trend going on for a long time now.
Only you would realize that.
Was the trend still decreasing for the past few month (since the off hours arena started to exist)?
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Yet were all responding :noid :bolt:
Who were all responding?
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You, me, and everyone else who posted in this tread with in a half hour of it's creation.
I'm not saying your wrong or anything, most people are sleeping at this time. It was a joke.
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Was the trend still decreasing for the past few month (since the off hours arena started to exist)?
my perception is as follows:
early offpeak (about now, euro noon) numbers are still declining
later offpeak (euro evening) numbers have stabilized and often even improved
I'm going to record the numbers again this week.
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my perception is as follows:
early offpeak (about now, euro noon) numbers are still declining
later offpeak (euro evening) numbers have stabilized and often even improved
I'm going to record the numbers again this week.
rgr
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No doubt the new system which was put in place is a God send during off peak, but I guess you can't stop the snowball effect which has been building up since the LW arena split and caps introduced. Factoring in the economy and there's the cherry on top.
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You, me, and everyone else who posted in this tread with in a half hour of it's creation.
I'm not saying your wrong or anything, most people are sleeping at this time. It was a joke.
wow.
That all went right over your head. :rofl
FWIW, I was poking fun at your inability/unwillingness to form contractions and use the proper words. Your statements as written make no sense.
It should have been "you're" not "your" and "we're" not "were."
I know it's the InT3rw3bZ and stuff, but c'mon people, at least attempt proper usage of the written language. :rofl
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Can't wait for more charts!
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No doubt the new system which was put in place is a God send during off peak, but I guess you can't stop the snowball effect which has been building up since the LW arena split and caps introduced.
Wait.... I thought the LW arena split and caps were good for business? Are you implying that there has been a decline since they were implemented?
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wow.
That all went right over your head. :rofl
FWIW, I was poking fun at your inability/unwillingness to form contractions and use the proper words. Your statements as written make no sense.
It should have been "you're" not "your" and "we're" not "were."
I know it's the InT3rw3bZ and stuff, but c'mon people, at least attempt proper usage of the written language. :rofl
Ah...Well I think my spelling and grammar is pretty good knowing I have not slept since wednesday.
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No doubt the new system which was put in place is a God send during off peak, but I guess you can't stop the snowball effect which has been building up since the LW arena split and caps introduced.
There was no such effect for a long time after the split & caps had been introduced. Only several years after that numbers started to fall both on global as well as offpeak level.
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Ah...Well I think my spelling and grammar is pretty good knowing I have not slept since wednesday.
I haven't slept all last night myself, being 4am AKST I think I
might go to sleep soon.
Maybe it'd be a good idea to fall into your loving pillows and
pass out? :D
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I haven't slept all last night myself, being 4am AKST I think I
might go to sleep soon.
Maybe it'd be a good idea to fall into your loving pillows and
pass out? :D
Can't, got to stay up for at least another 13 hours.
But they I can sleep for two days straight :banana: wrong smiley, this should be the right one (http://freeemoticonsandsmileys.com/emoticons/Mood%20Emoticons/sleep.gif)
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how come the numbers are declining? we have the B29 now so they shouldn't!!! :neener:
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Can't, got to stay up for at least another 13 hours.
But they I can sleep for two days straight :banana:
I've done that once before... Confusing as heck once I woke up.
/end hijack :uhoh
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There was no such effect for a long time after the split & caps had been introduced. Only several years after that numbers started to fall both on global as well as offpeak level.
Would you say that splits/caps have had no effect on player base numbers during that time? If not, where's the elephant in the room?
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Would you say that splits/caps have had no effect on player base numbers during that time? If not, where's the elephant in the room?
from my AHSTATS 2010 thread (see sig):
(http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/1903/lwactivityindex70132.jpg)
Spilt was tour 81
Local offpeak population went about the same way for a long time. The offpeak specific problems with caps only started about 1-1.5 years ago, as overall numbers dropped to a level that wasn't working with the rigid caps limits anymore... but that mainly affected euro evening
EDIT: And before the rumor starts again: the chart is NOT showing subscriptions!
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tour 86 seems to have been very aggressive
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Perhaps I'm reading your graph incorrectly, but it shows approx. 4,400
active pilots at the end of tour 132? And these are pilots with at least
one kill or death in said tour, correct?
If so, I'm rather surprised at the number. I would have guessed around
1,600 players were active around this time :o
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does anyone remember what tour did we get a new terrain and what tour did we get a new radar?
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does anyone remember what tour did we get a new terrain and what tour did we get a new radar?
I'll post some info later, have a 262 on my six right now :uhoh
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I'll post some info later, have a 262 on my six right now :uhoh
Good Luck, I hope your in a Tiger.
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The title of the thread reminds me of this:
(http://www.emmiebee.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/funny-pictures-cat-thinks-the-sky-is-falling.jpg)
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does anyone remember what tour did we get a new terrain and what tour did we get a new radar?
Ok, major changes:
The big arena split: Tour 80 881 was the first full split tour), also only small maps from that point on
Split score: Tour 93
Return of the big maps & TT: Also around tour 93'ish
New radar settings: Tour 125 (going back to small dar circles in late War 1-2 tours later)
New towns: Tour 126
Peak/offpeak arena format: Tour 130
Adjustment to town capture requirement (50% & white flag): Tour 131
Something I want to add regarding to that chart: There are several factors that do influence the # of kills shown in the short run: Some tours are considerably longer than others, particularly if the 1st of a month is on a holiday or weekend. Holidays boost kill numbers too.
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Ok, major changes:
The big arena split: Tour 80 881 was the first full split tour), also only small maps from that point on
Split score: Tour 93
Return of the big maps & TT: Also around tour 93'ish
New radar settings: Tour 125 (going back to small dar circles in late War 1-2 tours later)
New towns: Tour 126
Peak/offpeak arena format: Tour 130
Adjustment to town capture requirement (50% & white flag): Tour 131
Something I want to add regarding to that chart: There are several factors that do influence the # of kills shown in the short run: Some tours are considerably longer than others, particularly if the 1st of a month is on a holiday or weekend. Holidays boost kill numbers too.
thanks
did you kill the 262?
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did you kill the 262?
Shot up his engine, he disengaged then.
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what happened in tour 119? Massive drop.
Shot up his engine, he disengaged then.
poor fellow
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what happened in tour 119? Massive drop.
The drop was tour 120, that was January. There usually is much more activity in December, and the tour is much longer.
There are so many little & big factors that have an influence on kill numbers and "active players" (which doesn't discern between subscribers and trial accounts anyway). The only thing I dare to say by looking at those numbers is that there has been no single design decision that had "broken" AH.
The big arena split had produced the biggest outrage in AH history with a number of "I quit" posts on the BBS unrivaled since then... And yet it didn't hurt the overall numbers at all ;)
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The problem is still the Win button and windows 7
The Future of AH is Aces High 3D......2 weeks 2015
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The drop was tour 120, that was January. There usually is much more activity in December, and the tour is much longer.
Right makes sense
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The drop was tour 120, that was January. There usually is much more activity in December, and the tour is much longer.
There are so many little & big factors that have an influence on kill numbers and "active players" (which doesn't discern between subscribers and trial accounts anyway). The only thing I dare to say by looking at those numbers is that there has been no single design decision that had "broken" AH.
The big arena split had produced the biggest outrage in AH history with a number of "I quit" posts on the BBS unrivaled since then... And yet it didn't hurt the overall numbers at all ;)
I was still kinda new in tour 93 and did not keep score or care about the arenas, could you explain what exactly happened? Was it that we had one late war arena and it got separated into two?
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Something I want to add regarding to that chart: There are several factors that do influence the # of kills shown in the short run: Some tours are considerably longer than others, particularly if the 1st of a month is on a holiday or weekend. Holidays boost kill numbers too.
You could take modified monthly kill values in terms of a 30 day month, so if one tour was 33 days just take (30/33)*total kills to fix for that factor. Or in february's case (30/28)*total kills. That would make them a few more % accurate in comparison.
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I was still kinda new in tour 93 and did not keep score or care about the arenas, could you explain what exactly happened? Was it that we had one late war arena and it got separated into two?
Up to tour 80, we only had one single main arena. Then came the split, which gave us EW, MW and two LW arenas, and with that the caps came. Scoring was still for all main arenas combined, until that was split also (Tour 93)
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You could take modified monthly kill values in terms of a 30 day month, so if one tour was 33 days just take (30/33)*total kills to fix for that factor. Or in february's case (30/28)*total kills. That would make them a few more % accurate in comparison.
I can't determine the actual tour length in retrospect. The tour label always says like "1-1-11 to 1-31-11" even if tour start or end had been several days late.
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I can't determine the actual tour length in retrospect.
Would just need to look at computer calender and make adjustment for weekends and obvious holidays, that would get most of em. Either way it would only improve accuracy by maybe 5% tops, probably not worth the effort.
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I logged online at around lunch time (GMT) and my heart sank when I saw just 35 people in the "Late War Off Hours" arena.]
The game is not captivating anymore. After all the changes over the past year,(bases uncaptuable, arena split, huge towns, eny, caps, ), this is not a team game and doesn't have a goal to accomplish, there's nothing to "Win" in this game, and i'm not talking about war. Used to be captivating, team/sqd,mission type, where people communicate , trying to accomplish a common goal and having FUN otw. But all the goals were taken away, maps can't reset, war can't be won, strats are useless spots on the map and there's no strategy involved.We were bombing the HQ few weeks ago, just to stir up a fight, and fun for both sides involved but unfortunately i've seen more enemy C47s than fighters around HQ. I don't get it? what for the B29?! The way i see it, this game like a nice Spot car ; all the beautiful parts are built but are laying on the garage floor, not assembled together.
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The game is not captivating anymore.
Try flying an aircraft from inside the cockpit as opposed to in arcade mode. It'll add a whole new dimension to it that you probably have never experienced.
:aok :rofl
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Ghi's right. Reapers comment was funny. :D
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Buuuuurn :neener:
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Ghi's right.
Ghi's right.
There are many wrong claims & misinformations in it. For example "war can't be won" - he is repeating that phrase for years now, way before the new towns had been introduced. Despite the fact we had literally hundreds of map resets since then. The truth is, he started such rants right after the old war-win system (clobber on one country only) was changed - which simply just took away several resets per week (up to twice per day!) by hording the smallest country.
But he's one of those that never let any facts stay in the way of their "opinion".
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Well his analogy's is something I agree with. For example, HiTech even said last year that the current city/strat system isn't working as intended, yet nothing has been done about it.
Aces High is still a 1000x better then its nearest rival.
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Aces High is still a 1000x better then its nearest rival.
Oh I fully agree... the question is: are those the main competitors anymore... or in other words: Does AH has to compete with them to gain new players, or with seemingly totally different games? The whole gaming market has changed a lot in the past 10 years, and so have the players and their motivations.
A player nowadays may not ask himself: "AH or Warbirds?" But "WoT or one of those many MMORPG or one of the myriad of "free" browser games of all kinds or that strange WW2 plane game called AH?" .. if he's using a PC for gaming at all.
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Up to tour 80, we only had one single main arena. Then came the split, which gave us EW, MW and two LW arenas, and with that the caps came. Scoring was still for all main arenas combined, until that was split also (Tour 93)
cc ty
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To take a phrase from a friend when someone builds a better mouse trap bye bye aces high.
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Well his analogy's is something I agree with.
Aces High is still a 1000x better then its nearest rival.
Oh and nice avatar Kazaa :O
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I agree with Ghi about the strats. Before the change it was another more thing to do. You could catch guys milkrunning strats for perks, or milkrun it yourself. Now they're just irrelevant.
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Oh and nice avatar Kazaa :O
Is that the girl from the "Daily Show"??
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It's Olivia Munn, she's dressed up in a Chun Li costume. :joystick:
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More captivating...
I suggest the old strat system and zones would help in that respect, think of what's been lost.
There are no zone bases with importance to keep the strat in control of your own country anymore.
All those long frantic and intense battles are no longer around to save the zone base.
No Train with guns snaking across the landscape making NOE raiders nervous.
No frequent fighter and Bomber intercept missions over the strats that had fallen behind enemy lines.
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It's Olivia Munn, she's dressed up in a Chun Li costume. :joystick:
You see here spread in maxim? she is smokin.
Back before the daily show she was a host on G4 used to watch it a big reason just to gawk at olivia munn.
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To get back to the original topic:
And I think now comes a snowball effect into play: People may tend to concentrate or shift their play time to a later time, just because there are relatively few players online. Just as a near empty EW or MW makes players chose a different arena. Now they log on, see 50 players and decide to come back later that day. This seems to be supported by the fact that the offpeak arena at euro prime time seems still to run quite well, in regards to player numbers.
The last time I had tracked a Friday's numbers was in last September, and this how it compares to today:
(http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3885/clipboard01hp.jpg)
Just two snapshots, but it seems to support my theory that there has been a shift from early to late offhours.
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To take a phrase from a friend when someone builds a better mouse trap bye bye aces high.
I don't think that HTC has much to worry about.
To "build the better mouse trap" you had better have a market for it big enough to either take the biggest slice of the pie. Pretty much, HTC already has the whole pie. The other games in this category are either a ghost town because of poor quality or are gone. Someone would have to take a look at HTC's overall net worth and decide if it's worth half (or even all) of his pie. I've seen the "estimated" worth and it would take twice that or more in R&D (much less the server farm, brick & mortar building plus emplyees) just to put out something far better. In a nutshell, it would cost someone far, far, far more to try and redesign HTC's wheel and then hope you get his full pie...losing half of your R&D cash in the process. And THAT assumes you have stolen 100% of his customers. Not to mention needing luring away HTC coders (I believe D.A. does a big chunk of it anyway) with fatter paychecks to help re-create then drastically improve on the already existing "mouse trap."
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It's Olivia Munn, she's dressed up in a Chun Li costume. :joystick:
She's mine, I saw her first!
Olivia Munn is NOM NOM NOM NOM
(http://www.straferight.com/photopost/data/500/olivia-munn-jiggle-02.gif)
(http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/3193/olivia2dh9.gif)
(http://a553.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/106/l_31f0ad6d2fc70ca4c761fa128e73af58.gif)
(http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/119011/LULZ/oliviamunomnomnom.gif)
(http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/2/3e5e6eb56502c1751df6f9e7d03b03fb.gif)
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She's mine, I saw her first!
Olivia Munn is NOM NOM NOM NOM
(http://www.straferight.com/photopost/data/500/olivia-munn-jiggle-02.gif)
(http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/3193/olivia2dh9.gif)
(http://a553.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/106/l_31f0ad6d2fc70ca4c761fa128e73af58.gif)
(http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/119011/LULZ/oliviamunomnomnom.gif)
(http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/2/3e5e6eb56502c1751df6f9e7d03b03fb.gif)
Literally. Chewing on iPhones and licking Apple TV's, what a disgusting woman. She'd be as big as the moon if Steve Jobs started making iPods out of lunch meat.
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Literally. Chewing on iPhones and licking Apple TV's, what a disgusting woman.
I'll take "disgusting," a side of "sick" and "twisted," and an order of "perverted" to make it a combo! :aok
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I have had alot better as my secretaries...just stating fact!
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I have had alot better as my secretaries...just stating fact!
You are too easy. Im going to avoid this and move along since im on thin ice around here. Maybe Ill come back later tonight when im hammered.
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Try flying an aircraft from inside the cockpit as opposed to in arcade mode. It'll add a whole new dimension to it that you probably have never experienced.
:aok :rofl
(http://s3.amazonaws.com/leah.baconfile.com/zing.jpg)