One arena weekend

[Kazaa]

Can someone please jog my memory as to which tour the main arena was split and the caps were implimented.

[Lusche]

Can someone please judge my memory as to which tour the main arena was split and the caps were implimented.

The split happened in tour 81, the black column in my graph.

[Wiley]

The numbers I've seen thrown around that caused the caps to be implemented don't seem to me to show up except at the peak peak times, like Friday night, Saturday, and TT.  Even then, it's generally in the 300 and change area, if I remember right.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that having an arena full of people to fight where you feel like just one in a crowd is less of a turn off compared to having an arena that feels empty when you log in.

I'd be very curious to see what it would be like if they just did like Kazaa suggests.  The people looking for the crowd could find it in Orange, and the people looking for smaller fights could also find it in Blue.

The problem with this kind of spitballing is, the detrimental effects (if any) wouldn't be seen for a while and they'd probably be subtle.  For the first while, numbers would be up, constant threads on the forums trumpeting how awesome it is that they did away with caps, etc and soforth.  The test would be what the game and peoples attitudes looked like after 2 or 3 months.

Lusche-  Just throwing this out there as a caution, but might a play style shift skew the kills/tour numbers a bit?  Just as an example, if the majority were more inclined at some point to luftberry til they were dead versus extend and rtb tactics being more popular at another time that might skew the numbers some, wouldn't it?

Still, it should be a decent enough baseline I'd think.

Wiley.

[Lusche]

Lusche-  Just throwing this out there as a caution, but might a play style shift skew the kills/tour numbers a bit?  Just as an example, if the majority were more inclined at some point to luftberry til they were dead versus extend and rtb tactics being more popular at another time that might skew the numbers some, wouldn't it?

I can't rule this out, but I do not think it's very probable. I did not see any larger change in LW arena tactics during the last 5 years (just for the record, I averaged 130 hours every month from tour 70-128 ).

But to verify this, I'm currently comparing the complete score of a few selected tours for variances in K/H and K/S... but that will take some time...

[Soulyss]

What I find interesting about that chart there Lusche is something I believe HT said during some of the split/CAP discussions, and my memory is a little foggy here so if you recall please correct me.  I believe HT said that prior to the arena split that subscription rates had slowed or declined.  What I don't recall if this was was the rate at which two-week trial accounts were subscribing, or if the number of canceled accounts exceeded the number of new accounts.  

At any rate according to your graph the number of kills in the arena while showing a significant drop off during tour 56 were actually back on the rise prior to the split, which if we're taking as a rough idea of number of players online seems to contradict what HT said (or at least my memory of what he said).

[Bruv119]

there has been quite a few gameplay changes since then,   Increased ack,  less vulching,  The terrain change killed the TT mass spawn fights,  

we had a period of small maps only and everyone whined for the large maps, I think this would be one of the main factors for the drop in kills.   The smaller the map,  more action , more kills.

[Imowface]

I agree about the small maps

[Lusche]

At any rate according to your graph the number of kills in the arena while showing a significant drop off during tour 56 were actually back on the rise prior to the split, which if we're taking as a rough idea of number of players online seems to contradict what HT said (or at least my memory of what he said).

But the kill numbers do not tell much about subscription numbers. A huge number of 2-weekers do generate a lot of kills for us AH vets. If HTC would do a huge advertising sweep, it would most probably boost the kill numbers significantly, while possible not resulting in any more subscriptions.

[CAP1]

Has it occured to anyone why most people were on there best behavior last weekend?

uumm....could it have something to do with those that wield the bansticks watching?

[Wiley]

What I don't recall if this was was the rate at which two-week trial accounts were subscribing, or if the number of canceled accounts exceeded the number of new accounts.  

I don't think I ever saw that specifically stated.  Everything I've seen on the boards about it said the game had stopped growing, which I would take to mean total number of accounts was stagnant or declining.  Maybe someone who was there or with better search-fu saw something I missed, but that's all I ever saw mentioned.

With how they play it pretty close to the vest when it comes to that kind of info, I doubt we'll get anything much clearer than that.

Wiley.

[Lusche]

we had a period of small maps only and everyone whined for the large maps, I think this would be one of the main factors for the drop in kills.   The smaller the map,  more action , more kills.

My first comparisons of average K/H numbers do not seem to support that

Also, the large maps came back around tour 93, together with Titanic Tuesday (will check the exact date). You can see the kill numbers did not go down.

[Soulyss]

With how they play it pretty close to the vest when it comes to that kind of info, I doubt we'll get anything much clearer than that.

Wiley.

You're correct in that, I don't expect HTC to make those numbers public which is perfectly reasonable I wouldn't expect any business to disclose that sort of information.

[Blooz]

Enable floating arena caps 24/7 (this keeps the arenas at relatively equal population) and swap out maps as population rises and falls during the day. Big maps for the time period of higher population (more people, bigger map) and small maps for the time of low population (less people, smaller map).

I realize the map change would require a server reset but I think the idea would work and be better than turning the arena caps on and off.

[dedalos]

Enable floating arena caps 24/7 (this keeps the arenas at relatively equal population) and swap out maps as population rises and falls during the day. Big maps for the time period of higher population (more people, bigger map) and small maps for the time of low population (less people, smaller map).

I realize the map change would require a server reset but I think the idea would work and be better than turning the arena caps on and off.

Ahhh yeah, tell that to the generals that were 5 minutes away from winning the war when the reset happens 

[LLogann]

I fly in BLUE, not a problem.   

Can't wait for the day you log on as player #401.

I can hear the screams already.