Change coming soon to arena capping methology.

[grizz441]

Go back to Orange and roll a 262 and have a free for all.

So basically you just want one arena.  Saying that you want two arenas and giving the players the choice is just a clever way of saying you only want one arena.

[Knite]

yeah maybe they did see more of ... whatever. much more likely they didnt see more ... whatever ... because no one else I talked to about it noticed an increase. thats why many of us found it so strange that the caps were reintroduced.

with current numbers 2 uncapped arenas would result in one arena with 70-90% of the players and a second with 10-30%. If you want to fly in an arena with 400 players you could, if you prefer to fly in one with 100 players you could. what is the problem with that?

Because you assume the numbers would be like 400 and 100
when in reality it'd be more like 480 and 20...

and since HT has said something like 400 was the limit of where the arena starts to "degrade" socially... that still brings it back to the original problem.

[RTHolmes]

I'm not just pulling numbers out the air here ... I kept an eye on the numbers during the fixed cap "experiment".

with as few as 100 total players, 10% still consistently preferred the smaller arena. as total numbers rise, the % of players who prefer the smaller arena rises too.

this is pretty intuitive - as the numbers in the more populous arena start to go above to the "sweet spot" for that terrain it becomes crowded and more players consider the less populated arena. by this time the less populated arena is approaching the "sweet spot" too, so it becomes more attractive.

it should be a rather neat self-balancing system.

[Wiley]

So basically you just want one arena.  Saying that you want two arenas and giving the players the choice is just a clever way of saying you only want one arena.

I've been thinking on the new setup, and I've been trying to see the gameplay downside of just leaving them both up uncapped during the non-peak times versus only having one arena.  The only thing I've come up with so far is there'd be milkrunning in Blue.

With just Orange, you've got everybody funneled into one larger arena.  For me, great!  That's how I like to fly, I want a target rich environment.   However, there's also a type of player that wants a smaller arena for smaller fights, smaller maps, more quality fights or something, I don't know what all else the perceived advantages are...

My point is, while yes having two arenas uncapped means for the vast majority it's de facto one arena, where's the harm leaving the second one up for those who prefer it for whatever reason?  Is the sticking point the possibility for milkrunning to pad score?

Wiley.

[grizz441]

I've been thinking on the new setup, and I've been trying to see the gameplay downside of just leaving them both up uncapped during the non-peak times versus only having one arena.  The only thing I've come up with so far is there'd be milkrunning in Blue.

With just Orange, you've got everybody funneled into one larger arena.  For me, great!  That's how I like to fly, I want a target rich environment.   However, there's also a type of player that wants a smaller arena for smaller fights, smaller maps, more quality fights or something, I don't know what all else the perceived advantages are...

My point is, while yes having two arenas uncapped means for the vast majority it's de facto one arena, where's the harm leaving the second one up for those who prefer it for whatever reason?  Is the sticking point the possibility for milkrunning to pad score?

Wiley.

Because I want the choice between two different populated arenas to fight in.  If one sucks, I can go over to the other one.  If you leave two uncapped, you are essentially handcuffing me to the only populated arena.  I'm not going to go over to blue that will have 30 players in it.

And on top of that, expanding your arenas is an inevitable necessity anyways as the game grows, regardless of if you want to believe it or not.  You can never have 10,000 people in one arena, so while you may think we don't have enough players yet to warrant two arenas, htc clearly does.  Multiple arenas is an inevitability one way or the other and creating a system to balance the two is necessary.

[Wiley]

Because I want the choice between two different populated arenas to fight in...

Wait, are we talking about non-peak hours, or during prime time?  In non-peak, IMO there's only enough people to sustain one decent arena.  I still believe they should be capped and split like they are now once the numbers start to ramp up.

Wiley.

[viking73]

Not if the orange was a giant map and the blue was a small one.  That would offset that "worked more" disparity.

I don't like it though because it would make orange seem more like the "main arena" and blue just some side arena that you get stuck in from time to time.  Both arena's should feel as equals.

That's the way it is now. The people in Blue are the ones who can't get into Orange because of the limits. All ready feel second class.

[DadRabit]

agrees with shawk.   

[P0LARBEAR]

Arena Capping has been a GOOD change 

I like the change that has been made and no matter what we think, I hope changes are always tried to prevent a stale Aces High II format.

I would offer a suggestion to the new arena capping methodology:
1)   At the end of each arena session continue to close the arena but give a 15 minute warning.
2)   Do not boot everybody at the end of 15 minutes. Let everyone have “One life to live”. If you die you cannot re-enter the arena.
3)   Decide on a threshold for PERK point’s award for the last remaining group of pilots? i.e. say 40 pilots (whatever threshold the Aces High Community votes on given a selection to vote on, like we did for B-29). The last group of pilots remaining, do get an arena boot at the end, but they get PERK points for living to the final threshold. The Arena will close at the threshold limit.
4)   This gives a new PERK point reward format and allows the close of an arena with pilots/squads finishing what was in progress knowing they have one life to do it before the arena shuts down.

This would give another arena challenge three times a day. Pilots fly the one life format and get some perks for success 

Thanks for keeping change and trying changes a part of Aces High II!       hitech!!

[Lusche]

3)   Decide on a threshold for PERK point’s award for the last remaining group of pilots? i.e. say 40 pilots (whatever threshold the Aces High Community votes on given a selection to vote on, like we did for B-29). The last group of pilots remaining, do get an arena boot at the end, but they get PERK points for living to the final threshold. The Arena will close at the threshold limit.

There would be less challenge in it than you seem to think. Staying alive is easy. Just spawn in the hangar of a remote field and sit there. Get free perks for that.

[P0LARBEAR]

There would be less challenge in it than you seem to think. Staying alive is easy. Just spawn in the hangar of a remote field and sit there. Get free perks for that.

Good point Lusche but I am sure hitech can find a solution, i.e you must be in Proximity to enemies in a active engaged sector (they already know when you can safely ditch). hitech and his group know more of the ability to make this work 

[crazyivan]

There would be less challenge in it than you seem to think. Staying alive is easy. Just spawn in the hangar of a remote field and sit there. Get free perks for that.

que the bee gees music

I understand the change just work with me here check my sig. Find fights around the world 24/7 minus 2 hrs. while we change arenas.

[redman555]

So if I am understanding this correctly, the point is that because earlier in the day there is less people on we have one arena, then the later it gets when more get on it splits to two arenas?


-BigBOBCH

[crazyivan]

Someone get this boy a cookie stat!

[P0LARBEAR]

Good point Lusche but I am sure hitech can find a solution, i.e you must be in Proximity to enemies in a active engaged sector (they already know when you can safely ditch). hitech and his group know more of the ability to make this work 

Maybe you have to score 2-3 kills to get the PERK's ??? That would take care of those that would hide out