Arena cap is getting out of hand

[Dadsguns]

Does anyone else see a different way of taking Travelers statements other then how I have interpreted them?

Does it really matter?

[Wiley]

One occurrence per day is not popping in and out randomly. Sorry you're not seeing things in the correct proportions. The arena shutdown and resulting block from getting to orange however is a game killer to many and people just log off as a result.

We've got to be talking about two different things, or you're really, really not getting why this is a bad idea.  Let me throw out a scenario, and you tell me what I'm not getting.  Let's assume 200 people is 'critical mass'.

Afternoon, 150 people on.  We have one arena yes?

Orange: 150

School lets out.  100 people log in, total 250 now.  I'm going to assume it splits evenly, yes?

Orange: 125
Blue: 125

People finish dinner, another 100 people log into Orange.  What happens now?  If it splits, that's twice in an hour 50% of the people in the arena have been relocated.  Still, you'd wind up with

Orange:113
Blue: 125
Pink: 112

at that point.

Now, at this point, let's say 50 people from Pink decide they've just GOTTA be in Orange, so they log out of pink and back into Orange.

Orange: 163
Blue: 125
Pink: 72

As the evening progresses, another 50 people show up in Orange, so it splits again.

Orange: 106
Blue: 125
Pink: 72
Fuchsia: 107

That's 3 times in an evening that half of your buddies and enemies have disappeared at once, and this is good for gameplay?

Now let's say 50 from Blue want to go back to Orange, and 50 from Pink are sick of the low numbers and want to go join the crowd.  So it splits again?

Orange:103
Blue: 75
Pink: 22
Fuchsia: 107
Mauve: 103

By the by, one thing I haven't even touched on, what if the countries are grossly imbalanced?  Let's say of the 250 people in the arena when it splits, 100 are Rook, 100 are Bish, 50 are Knights.  Does it take the same percentage from each and throw it into the new arena?  Going from 100 friendlies to 50 isn't so bad.  Going from 50 to 25 is going to pretty much nullify your ability to do much of anything.

As I said once the other side gets low in players, people _will_ migrate to the larger server as they do now.

...or milkrun like a big dog.

You have quietly glossed over my questions about the ground war.  What happens with the state of the fields when an arena splits?

Wiley.

[Ack-Ack]

Does anyone else see a different way of taking Travelers statements other then how I have interpreted them?
If so please fill me in because I am completely missing it.

Does anyone think I have taken them out of context?

HiTech

Nope.

ack-ack

[moot]

Nay

Feed him to the grizz gimp

[hitech]

Does it really matter?

Very much so Dadsguns, people can disagree with me here with no problem.

Someone states in my house to my customers I am a liar, Yes it matters. If I do not refute it, it gets repeated and repeated, and people begin to take it as truth.

HiTech

[PFactorDave]

I don't see what the big issue is here.  I think the caps, as in place now, are working pretty well.  I rarely ever have to spend more then just a few minutes trying to get into a particular arena.  The occaisions where the cap is way under the pop and I just can't get in are so few and far between that they simply aren't worth worrying about.

HiTech, this customer is satisfied with things as they are.  Now quit posting and work on some new planes or tanks or something.   

[bmwgs]

I think HT has shown great patience.
I think many people in this thread just want to argue for the sake of arguing, or thinking they're entitled to internal HTC information.
I think we have been given all the explanation needed, and are not entitled to view the metrics used by HTC to drive their business decisions.
I think we should just play and have fun...and if that's not possible due to ego or anger issues, then those with problems should take a step back and analyze their lives.

+1

Funny how so few complain so much, but yet, they keep coming back and playing.  I guess HiTech is doing something right.

Fred

[bmwgs]

Duplicate post

[Ack-Ack]

I don't see what the big issue is here.  I think the caps, as in place now, are working pretty well.  I rarely ever have to spend more then just a few minutes trying to get into a particular arena.  The occaisions where the cap is way under the pop and I just can't get in are so few and far between that they simply aren't worth worrying about.

HiTech, this customer is satisfied with things as they are.  Now quit posting and work on some new planes or tanks or something.   

Like I've said a hundred times, arena caps are the Energizer Bunny of whines.




ack-ack

[grizz441]

Oh golly G grizz, I read your idea, just like the other 10,000 Ideas posted but I did not respond to it. I'm sorry that I did not treat you more special then everyone else who ever posted an idea.

My apologies, I thought you'd be a little more enthused after reading the solution to the caps problem.

Grizz,
How many new people come to our internet sight each day.
How many people visit our download page every day?
How many people downloaded the game every day?
How many people created an account but did not enter the game?
How many people created an account ?
How many days does the average person who creates an account play?
How many people created an account who subscribed before.
How many people who try our game become subscribers.
How much advertising have we done this month.
How many people deleted there accounts this month.
How many people's credit cards were declined this month?
How many people have an account but did not play this month.
How many hours did the average person play last month?
What is the average life span of a subscriber?
What % of subscribers delete in the first month?

These are some of the metrics we look at. And even the simple metric you are using shows growth right after the change.
So yes , you are really viewing things with almost zero data.

80% of those parameters have no worth in regards to a player spike due to an arena split.  The thing is, I don't mind two arenas as long as there is air to air combat in at least one (Which is harder to come by if both arenas have a giant map -.-), but I have heard you dismiss the one arena proposition many times on the sole basis that you guys saw subscriptions have a short term spike after you split the arenas.  If you really believe that, then maybe you can answer this: How did the arena split create new subscriptions/retain subscriptions?  I'm talking on the player level here, Say you have 15% players teetering on resubscribing any given month.  How did the split encourage them to stay?  How did the split cause more players to join the game?  How did the split cause inactive players to want to fly again?  Ultimately the underlying theme of each question is, how did it create more fun for each case mentioned?  Having asked myself these questions, I don't see how it could have helped, it just doesn't make any sense.  The more logical explanation is a coincidental player spike.  

Ultimately, when the game grows to a certain point you need to split the arenas, I agree on that.  But the split is not the cause of the growth, in fact it is quite the opposite, the growth should cause the need for a split.

[DREDIOCK]

Just out of pure curiosity.

Just how long is the average live span of a subscriber?

[hitech]

Griz I can answer your question but choose not to.

The simple fact you state 80 of my metric are not important shows how you will just ignor any real data.

Actually on a quick scan almost all of the items I posted are important to determine the outcome of the arena split change.

But the split is not the cause of the growth, in fact it is quite the opposite, the growth should cause the need for a split.

Actually it is both, growth caused the need for the arena split, because we had grown to a point that to have any further growth, the arenas need to be split.

HiTech

[RoGenT]

Griz I can answer your question but choose not to.

The simple fact you state 80 of my metric are not important shows how you will just ignor any real data.

Actually on a quick scan almost all of the items I posted are important to determine the outcome of the arena split change.

Actually it is both, growth caused the need for the arena split, because we had grown to a point that to have any further growth, the arenas need to be split.

HiTech

Hitech has spoken 

[grizz441]

Actually it is both, growth caused the need for the arena split, because we had grown to a point that to have any further growth, the arenas need to be split.

Disagree.  This is the prelude to the "cess pool" philosophy yes?  In 2011, I doubt the average player, the "xbox generation" if you will, is too concerned with the anonymity of a MMOG or the animosity that comes with it.  What drives the average player for his first couple months is how much game driven fun he can have in that time.  He's not too concerned with uch more than that, he signed up to fly ww2 airplanes into combat. 

More specifically, having success at something.  Whether it be helping his team take a base, shooting down a bad guy, or getting his name in the lights.  There must be success and improvement and the game must be immersive.  Hopefully, he enjoys it so much that he convinces a couple of his friends to play the game also.  In whatever way he finds his fun, I do not see how that is directly related to it being in one arena with 600 players on an over sized map or two arenas, especially since hordes seem to manifest themselves the same way in either setting.  Is one arena "harder" for the new player to find success? No I don't think so, they can roll with the horde or find isolated fights.

So while you say that you know yet choose not to answer my question I ask again due to the direct validity of it to the current discussion, How does the split arena help retain/create customers (New customers in particular) by enhancing their level of fun?

[moot]

Grizz it sounds like you want the science of it whereas HT is arguing the engineering of it. IE who cares exactly why it works, if it works; IOW if it does what you want it to.  Not that there's nothing to gain from knowing and understanding the science of it or that you wouldn't naturally want that deep an understanding, but till you make sense of the how and why, the "what" (the recorded correlation between arena population and subscription growth) is the bottom line and you don't screw with it randomly.  And until you know the how and why, screwing with it beyond your basic "what" understanding is random.