Titanic everyday? Yep!

[Crash Orange]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3TUWU_yg4s&feature=related

No more logging on at 1 a.m. EST and being forced into an arena with 30 people on a large map and no one to fight! No more arena closing just when things are getting good! No more one side swarming into one arena and abandoning the other, putting both massively out of balance!

I don't know where all this stuff about no fights to be found comes from. I was just on for 3 hours tonight and there were plenty of hard fights for anyone who wanted one, no shortage of hard-pressed attacks or tenacious defenses. More people on the map means bigger attacking hordes, but it also means more defenders available to up and defend against the horde - if people are willing to do it. Increased player density can only mean MORE fighting.

I do hope the subscription numbers recover, but I think this will only help

[Blagard]

The single LW Arena is got to be the right thing for now - I used to go to the LW Arena with the biggest numbers in. What I looked for was simple, a place where there was fighting going on. It really didn't matter to me what the size of the map was, so long as there were some hot spots to have fun. If I found that there was no real action going off in either LW Arena I would probably give it a go, but unless I can find some fights fairly quickly I would log off.

I have absolutely no doubt that the recession hits everything and this is a sensible change for the time being. Numbers will go up when the recession ends although I suspect it may be difficult to get back to a previous peak.

The bottom line is that HTC needs players. Not just new ones, but holding onto those it already has. It's all about enjoyment and in a multi-player environment. Ulitmately, if you don't have the players it does not work, whatever the initial reason for joining.

I was seriously considering packing it in for lack of action. - I just hope that this works. 

[ghi]

I have absolutely no doubt that the recession hits everything and this is a sensible change for the time being. .  

I doubt the recession is the main reason for low #s,i was about to quit also, and i know many many players who canceled account for arena split, caps, unbalanced gaming and a lack of game goal. Also,the squads are the basic organized cells  in this game like families for a growing society, the settings over past years dissolved squads, can't play in the same arena and was no reason for organized team fight because was nothing to fight for ,only the score . This settings are great now, but more strategy would be fun; HQ /strats destroyed should affect country resources and be part of map reset/ win war, encourage large scale fights/ raids.

[LLogann]

The new strat system was kind of cool at first but it I do think if we broke them up again, as well as maybe keeping the size of the areas around it as destroyable buildings, it might give us a boost.  Lusche had mentioned in another thread about Country Morale....  Maybe destroying the strats themselves only bring production down to 35%, but if we were to destroy the towns around the strats to bring it to a full stop.....  Oh that might be worth wild.  

SNIP........This settings are great now, but more strategy would be fun; HQ /strats destroyed should affect country resources and be part of map reset/ win war, encourage large scale fights/ raids.

[Lusche]

I doubt the recession is the main reason for low #s,i was about to quit also, and i know many many players who canceled account for arena split, caps, unbalanced gaming and a lack of game goal. Also,the squads are the basic organized cells  in this game like families for a growing society, the settings over past years dissolved squads, can't play in the same arena and was no reason for organized team fight because was nothing to fight for ,only the score . This settings are great now, but more strategy would be fun; HQ /strats destroyed should affect country resources and be part of map reset/ win war, encourage large scale fights/ raids.

I think - and I might be wrong, it's just a shot in the dark - that the split arena and the caps weren't a problem initially, but as the numbers started to decline due to the economy, they became a problem on their own.

For a about two years after the split numbers were high (mostly higher than before the split), and caps were annoying but not that much of a problem, as there were always two LW arenas with sufficient action, no "empty rooms".
But when the number began to drop (about autumn/winter 20008) the rigid caps, with their basically unchanged times and trigger levels, stood more and more in the way of players trying to get action at "unlucky" times. We Euro players do remember 180/100 - 20/200 in the evening. Where it once took 1 hour to normalize it ended up last year with up to 4 hours "downtime".

And it is my believe that at this point the caps, which once worked "fine" (well, more or less) did start to be a serious problem. And note that the "loss" of players (measured in terms of activity in the arenas) began to accelerate in 2010. It might be because of what I just described.

But of course - I just speculate, but do not know  

[Traveler]

The only real back lash at this point (due to the lower numbers at this time) are if the "hordes" run rampant and become a bigger problem.

If they do, beware the split arenas again. So a fair warning to all, do what you can to split up the hordes.

Are saying that the split arenas prevented "hordes"?  Because that never happened in any arena I was in. "hordes" were alive and well.

[Dantoo]

HTC never said, anywhere that I saw, that arenas were split due to hordes (or any particular form of play).  It was announced at the time that it was being done because of the unhealthy attitudes that at least some players were showing (perhaps amplifying is better) after the player base had grown rapidly.  Perhaps someone can find the announcement thread?

When this game started there was a lot of very open and friendly cooperation and coordination across "country" lines.  You knew just about everyone who played.  There was always one or two unfriendly types but they were a minority. It wasn't a garden of Eden but it was certainly different from where it was when the arena split was announced. Rapid surges in growth occurred when a couple of other similar games closed down or imploded.  Things changed.

The influx of new players brought many good things with them.  Skills, special events, map makers and other such wonders.  They also brought some baggage.  Attitude and aggression directed personally against other players seemed to rise.  Is it too much to say that some player relationships approached hatred?  The atmosphere developing was very negative and it was impacting immediately upon new players entering the game.  It possibly wasn't unusual for a 2-weeker to be abused out of the game before the trial was up.  It surely caused some stress to HTC.

I presumed at the time that the arena split was an attempt to re-develop the relationships that were more typical when the community was smaller and 350 was a big day in the arena.  I welcomed it as such.  
Whether it worked or not is subjective for us and objective only for those who keep the official stats.  It surely had a cost/benefit and only HTC knows if it had measurable benefits in player retention and decreased complaints about behaviour.

Interestingly, one of the benefits of that big player influx was the growth of special events.  It is the only place in AH world, that I am aware of, that has re-kindled that old warmness of a game being played amongst friends rather than the slight feeling of uncomfortably lurching toward a gang war between inconsolable Ultras you get on some nights in the MA.

  

[KG45]

most fun I've had all day in looooooong time.

never liked the arena split, never saw the point.

[BaldEagl]

Last night was the first time I've gotten to log on since the single main was reimplemented.  It was more fun than I've had in years here.

[Lusche]

Last night was the first time I've gotten to log on since the single main was reimplemented.  It was more fun than I've had in years here.

Same here. I was trying to log off for hours. I just couldn't   

[HawkerMKII]

Yupp and what i like now is the 200 crying.....HORDES HORDES HORDES......... .....Get it right...IT'S MEGA HORDES . So all you that wanted 1 arena.....get use to it

[Midway]

Same here. I was trying to log off for hours. I just couldn't   

me too. 

[Zoney]

It's like being addicted to crack, and your dealers calls you up and says "All your drugs are free now, how much do you want?".



Can't


stop








playing












...

[Traveler]

Yupp and what i like now is the 200 crying.....HORDES HORDES HORDES......... .....Get it right...IT'S MEGA HORDES . So all you that wanted 1 arena.....get use to it

I didn't see any HORDES, I saw a lot more missions, I saw large number of fighters defending, flying BAR CAPS and CAPS.   I saw fighter strikes, bomber missions.

You do understand that the idea behind war is to hit the other guy  with more people then he can hit you with, right?

[LCADolby]

The increased Mega Locust Swams... Now garanteed every day of the week makes me vomit.