Appreciate the info on how you guys, as developers, see spawntimes and it’s good to know you’re looking to change it. As a non-developer, I can’t help feeling that the feedback we’re giving ourselves must be more valuable than the numbers being pumped out from Echo. Sure Echo is fantastic and really can give you guys some insight that will help you balance but we feel the game differently to how Echo does.
Can’t you make the changes then compare the Echo data?
Pretty please?
That’s why we don’t depend on Echo alone, we read the forums, we play ourselves, we play with you folks, we look at heat maps, we watch demos, we send surveys etc. All of it helps to build the whole picture.
In this particular case we just feel we’re missing a few key bits of data that could help us see some of the less obvious impacts of spawn changes, so we want to get that first.
Wouldnt it be the best to test a different setting? Maybe this gives you the missing key?
[QUOTE=Anti;445095]We’ll probably up the defender spawn time on SW before then yes, that doesn’t really affect what we’re trying to do.
@Shifty: Data by itself may not always be useful, a lot of the value comes from having historic or alternate data to compare it against, like having a control experiment in a lab etc. By having two modes right now, running different systems, we can see how those spawn systems affect other things we care about such a kill locations, front line position, average time spent incapped/alive/dead etc. If we switch all servers to the same system, before we have that data, then we lose the chance to make that comparison.
I understand this is frustrating for some of you folks right now but this is the kind of testing we need to do in alpha to ensure the game is quality by open beta. We could balance purely on feedback but doing that right now would be the equivalent of driving a car with only one eye open (which is bad by the way! 
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Thanks for that boss man, I’m sure a lot of people will appreciate it. 
[QUOTE=Anti;445125]That’s why we don’t depend on Echo alone, we read the forums, we play ourselves, we play with you folks, we look at heat maps, we watch demos, we send surveys etc. All of it helps to build the whole picture.
In this particular case we just feel we’re missing a few key bits of data that could help us see some of the less obvious impacts of spawn changes, so we want to get that first.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I have no doubt that you guys are keen to keep us satisfied and will implement the right changes at the right time. Out of sheer curiosity, how big an effect would it have on your current findings if you put new spawntimes in place now?