Good game on Quarry

(DrFunkenstein) #21

I think there are two things that play a role in this:

  • Even if you don’t care about ranks, XP or stats, why would join a server that’s empty?
  • The persistant stats still work in this game and people are still interested in getting a higher rank.

Don’t ask me why but people are still worried about ranks and awards. It’s an observation, I wish things would be different, but people do care about that.

That’s why I said there are only bad choices. You either host a ranked server with all the limitations that come with it or host a server that will be empty most of the times.

Dr. Funkenstein

(DrD3ath) #22

As DrFunkenstein says above. An unranked server will just die. There isn’t much interest in hosting and paying for an empty server. In fact , it gets more difficult as time passes even to fill the ranked ones. Right now, 23 40 uk time there are approx 120 players online.

(.Chris.) #23

I don’t play public much these days but I assume they are several popular ones that people constantly go to in order to play with the same bunch of players. What if all these servers suddenly went unranked? Do you think they would stop playing there and join a random empty ranked server or stick with your servers as they enjoy playing with the regulars there more than ranks?

I would have thought everyone would have top rank by now anyway :slight_smile:

What would happen if Activision pulled the plug from ranked servers? Would that be the final nail in the coffin or would it open up possibilities such as running servers with mods and custom maps and actually have people try them?

(DrFunkenstein) #24

We started the server somewhere in December 2009 and we enabled alias tracking on the 19th of that month. We asked our GSP to upload the file that contains the PBguids and aliases in May 2011 and this is the breakdown per month:

[B]Year/Month	New Players	# of Days	Average[/B]
2009/12		1191		13		92
2010/01		1511		31		49
2010/02		930		28		33
2010/03		1051		31		34
2010/04		1109		30		37
2010/05		1164		31		38
2010/06		1034		30		34
2010/07		1005		31		32
2010/08		909		31		29
2010/09		835		30		28
2010/10		846		31		27
2010/11		677		30		23
2010/12		678		31		22
2011/01		611		31		20
2011/02		471		28		17
2011/03		574		31		19
2011/04		502		30		17
2011/05		194		10		19
[B]Total		15292[/B]

These numbers are based on PBguids, which means smurfs are filtered out. Can’t stress that enough!

The numbers for the first months are obviously overinflated since we were kinda catching up with the player base, but if I count the average for 2011, we still get about 18 new players per day. The file was uploaded on the 10th of May, which means that we had 2352 new PBguids in 130 days.

I don’t know where they come from or why they decide to start playing a game that’s more then 3 years old. All I can say is that these numbers amaze me.

And to answer your question: my guess is that if Activision decided to pull the plug on this game, it would collapse within weeks. I can’t speak for Serenade, we might try to run an unranked server, but I somehow doubt it would be viable.

I really wish that Activision and SD would have made different choices, but this is the situation and I guess we’ll have to live with that.

I’ll see if I can add the numbers for the remainder of 2011, but that requires a bit of work.

Dr. Funkenstein

(light_sh4v0r) #25

Problem is probably that most people will have the ranked filter on and simply think all their favourite servers quit.

(Ashog) #26

I would agree with Chris and suspect that nothing will happen if a ranked are dropped. For those few players who won’t be able to overcome their dependance on local stats I can only say that there is not much love lost if they are gone. I think the love to local stats is hugely overestimated. Public stats on a site - sure, that was crucial for many, but not local stats.

(PSG_Mud) #27

I actually am the opposite with most of you guys here. I prefer playing this map over outskirts any day for GDF.

Its really hard to lose when you have a bunch of engineers and most of your team guarding the house. With a good Anansi above.

But, outskirts, traveling time is just to much for GDF on the last objective.

[QUOTE=.Chris.;372860]
What would happen if Activision pulled the plug from ranked servers? Would that be the final nail in the coffin or would it open up possibilities such as running servers with mods and custom maps and actually have people try them?[/QUOTE]

Some new players might be confused since there is a ranked only option. But, probably be for the best overall experience for all players. If you care about selling ETQW anymore then I wouldn’t risk it, but, sometimes these things work out for the good.