Author Topic: Wish they'd stop changing things...  (Read 514 times)

Offline Kurt

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Wish they'd stop changing things...
« on: December 12, 2006, 09:15:23 PM »
Change scares people...

Stop making weekly changes.  Jeez, let it settle for a few months, then make another change...  Its so rapid fire I can't even figure out the rules.

Red, Blue, Orange... Queues, Capture rules, M.A., Mid war, early..

Yeah, its a whine... deal with it.

Seriously though, the arenas are changing faster than my girlfriends opinion during hard PMS... I can't keep up.. STOP ALREADY.

Cripes, I'm not sure if I'm playing AH or Checkers, or Oblivion... Its just a blur.  I don't even have time to form an opinion before you do something else.

And why don't we even get a message on the front page "Heads up, we changed something"?
--Kurt
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Clowns of Death <Now Defunct>
'A pair of jokers beats a pair of aces'

Offline JB88

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Wish they'd stop changing things...
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2006, 10:13:29 PM »
agreed, but its not because of a fear of change for me, but like you say, the way that it is being implimented.
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Offline nickf620

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Wish they'd stop changing things...
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2006, 02:55:02 AM »
i thought you said you liked oblivion
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Offline Kurt

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Wish they'd stop changing things...
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2006, 08:32:27 AM »
I do...

I also like the new capture system, although I think it needs refinement.

There are just too many changes though, you never know what game you are playing when you log in and they have stopped posting notice of the changes on the web front page... So you log in and its like "Whats the game du jour?"
--Kurt
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Clowns of Death <Now Defunct>
'A pair of jokers beats a pair of aces'

Offline hitech

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Wish they'd stop changing things...
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2006, 09:42:09 AM »
Lets see as far as real game play changes I can think of only 1, increased aaa at  air fields and towns.

beside that there have been only 2 non game play changes.

1. multiple arenas
2. change to country balancing.


Beside that we have just run 2 test in 1 arena only.


Sorry not quite seeing an overwhelming amount of changes in 3 months.


HiTech

Offline JB88

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Wish they'd stop changing things...
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2006, 09:49:45 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by hitech
Lets see as far as real game play changes I can think of only 1, increased aaa at  air fields and towns.

beside that there have been only 2 non game play changes.

1. multiple arenas
2. change to country balancing.


Beside that we have just run 2 test in 1 arena only.


Sorry not quite seeing an overwhelming amount of changes in 3 months.


HiTech



within those 2 subcategories

1.  multiple arenas (just showed up one day)
      a.  first there were 3.  
      b.  then there were 4.

2.  change to country balancing.
      a.  redistribution of arenas leads to greater imbalance.  
             1.  reset arena numbers in lw arenas so that they would balance based on numbers in other arena.
      b.  a "country side que" arrives.  now we cant get into the arena that we want OR the country that we want.  

all in a short period of time.

that and it appears that you are not counting your tests as changes, but they are.  if we cannot get into the arena that we want to because of numbers caps then we are forced to participate in your tests.  


id say that is alot of change in a very short period yes.  

what some might consider a reasonable notification of changes has also been non existant from some of our points of view.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2006, 09:53:02 AM by JB88 »
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Offline Kurt

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Wish they'd stop changing things...
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2006, 09:05:30 PM »
JB88 Basically said what I'm getting at HT.  You see it as a couple changes, but those little variations and sub sets are the part that is frustrating.

I also think that the view is very different from the end where the money leaves the bank account than the view on the other end where the money arrives.

HT, I'm going to go a little out on a limb here and I'm not trying to be a punk, so I hope you don't think this is meant as anything more than a simple illustration...

By any measure I can use (player scores specifically) you don't get a lot of time to play aces high in the online arenas.  Last month, you got in about 2 hours.

But I'm sure you put in tons of time doing the admin stuff and keeping it running.  And I appreciate that.

So your vision of what is 'fun' I would suspect must be largely based on feedback from the community?

But if the feedback you're getting really is the majority opinion, how come splitting the arenas resulted in two packed LW arenas, one EW arena that gets maybe 10%, and a MW arena that gets maybe 25%.    How can there really be so many people complaining about the LW, and yet when given a choice they play in the LW anyhow?

(Don't get me wrong, I dig MW, but its a drag that there isn't more attendance there).

As far as side balancing, I understand your motives, I really do.  But the queue thing is awfully intrusive.  Does the 24 hour rule still exist for changing teams?  Because if I change my whole squad over to another team and then the weight goes the otherway and I am enqueued there later in the evening after having tried to be a good citizen, if I can't move again, I'm going to be unhappy.

Anyhow, its not my intent to rag anyone, you know your business.  But sometimes it feels like you're trying to balance numbers on a spreadsheet, and the real fun of playing the game has slipped your mind.

Thanks for reading.
--Kurt
Supreme Exalted Grand Pooh-bah Clown
Clowns of Death <Now Defunct>
'A pair of jokers beats a pair of aces'

Offline JB88

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Wish they'd stop changing things...
« Reply #7 on: December 13, 2006, 09:45:00 PM »
kurt, i think that there is a one hour rule in place now, but i am not entirely positive on that, so it may not be quite as bad as it used to be but...

to continue the illustration if i may...

yesterday i had a stressful morning.  i havent gotten to fly much recently because i have been busy and i was looking forward to jumping in and taking a ride in my favorite plane.

i look at my watch.  half hour to screw off.  okay.  here i go.  joy.

aces high> online arenas>  hmmm...latewar blue has 135 people, early war has something like 20-30...> latewar blue>  you are number 5 of 5 in que.  > WHAT?!  > grrr.  wait wait wait.> you are number 5 of 7 in que>  wait wait.  > lets see. do i want to go fly in an unpopulated arena?  > no. >  not a milkrunner.  > wait wait.>  grrrr.  switch country. >  sigh.  >  radio check>  silence. > radio check > silence.  > (other guys)  who is this guy?  > skip radio check > back to me. > plane comes up on me...hey, why isnt anyone clearing my six? > .f wingman > on other team > grrrr.  > boom.  > hanger> select plane > take off>  see plane >  kill plane. > boom!  wingman dead >  wingman: WTF?  > me.  sorry dude.  etc...


all i wanted to do was fly the game that i paid for and thats what makes me think that Hitech is unconcerned with the general wellfare of the people in the arenas as opposed to some unspoken esoteric vision of the game that we do not get to share.

would it have ever been all that hard to set up an email database in the beginning or in registration asking if people would like to know when changes are happening?  should we have to go find it or should we just be happy to participate in whatever the new whim is?

how hard could it be to a coder to set up a system to let people know what is happening?

how many people, do you think offhand, would say "hell no" if you ASKED them to participate in some tests rather than subjecting your paying subscribers to them without warning?

88
« Last Edit: December 13, 2006, 10:21:56 PM by JB88 »
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Offline Kurt

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Wish they'd stop changing things...
« Reply #8 on: December 13, 2006, 10:34:15 PM »
Jb88, I won't agree with you on that last post...

You're letting your frustration get the better of you and you're making declarative statements that you can't actually prove, and assumptions about whats easy and what isn't.

I do agree that running a test in the production system is questionable... But there is no other way for him to gather the actual data on the full scale.  I wish we had a heads up though.

My point is simply that the changes have inadvertently caused greater imbalances (or so it would seem, I don't have the spreadsheet).  And have Caused a more unstable situation from the perspective of the player.

Multiple arenas have amplified the player imbalances because players are more likely to change arenas than they are to change teams.

EW is such a dud, that most often if my squad goes in there (and we are smallish) we can represent 50% of the population of the server... That is not fun.  A few weeks ago 7 of us went in there and we were fighting 3 bishops and 4 rooks... Not fun for us... Not fun for them.

MW is fine if you stick to fighters... But bombers go un challenged most of the time.  Every time my squad decides to do bombers we must go to LW, because anything else is a guaranteed milk run in the mid war.  Not fun.

Someone is telling HT that its fun... And I'd like to get some piano wire around that persons neck... Because it ain't fun.  Its not going to become fun.  Originally I figured that the multi arena thing would balance, but 3 months later it hasn't... In fact more migration has gone back the the LW.
--Kurt
Supreme Exalted Grand Pooh-bah Clown
Clowns of Death <Now Defunct>
'A pair of jokers beats a pair of aces'

Offline JB88

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Wish they'd stop changing things...
« Reply #9 on: December 13, 2006, 10:44:08 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Kurt


Someone is telling HT that its fun... And I'd like to get some piano wire around that persons neck... Because it ain't fun.  Its not going to become fun.  Originally I figured that the multi arena thing would balance, but 3 months later it hasn't... In fact more migration has gone back the the LW.


and you say that i am letting frustration get the better of me?

:D

ya.  i know.  i'm a bit ticked.
this thread is doomed.
www.augustbach.com  

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. -Ulysses.

word.